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Historical  sketch  of  Lisbon,  Conn. 


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HENRY  FITCH  BISHOP,  D.D.S. 


Historical  Sketch  of 
Lisbon,  Conn. 


From    1786   to  1900 


BY 

HENRY    F.  BISHOP 


Published   by 
H.  F.  BISHOP,  D.D.S. 

332  E.  88th  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


Thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  Calvin  Dtiane  Bromley,  present  Town 
Clerk  of  Lisbon,  for  giving  free  access  to  all  records,  and  to  the 
late  Rev.  R.  M.  Chipman,  whose  unpublished  manuscript  contained 
much  valuable  data. 

H.  F.  B. 


Copyrighted  1903  by  H.  F.  Bishop. 


PREFACE. 

In  looking  up  the  records  of  Lisbon's  history,  one  finds  very 
little  help  in  any  written  historical  descriptions  thus  far  published. 
The  explanation  is  to  be  found  that  she  is  so  unimportant  relatively 
with  her  larger  sister  towns.  She  has  had  a  small,  contracted  terri- 
tory, a  sparse  population,  and  a  short  period  of  existence  since 
she  was  incorporated  into  a  separate  town  in  1786.  This  necessarily 
makes  but  a  brief  sketch  of  history  when  all  of  it  is  collected  for 
publication. 

Barker's  "Historical  Collections,"  published  in  1837,  speaking 
"of  all  the  towns  in  Connecticut,"  describing  their  geography,  soil, 
inhabitants,  churches,  and  manufacturing  interests,  gives  about  as 
good  a  description  of  Lisbon  as  is  found  anywhere,  but  it  is  only  a 
half -page  record. 

Hurd's  "History  of  New  London  County,"  published  in  1882. 
gives  Lisbon's  boundaries  as  follows  :  "On  the  north  by  Canterbury, 
Windham  County,  east  by  Griswold,  south  by  Preston,  west  by 
Norwich  and  Sprague."  It  only  gives  us  two  of  its  early  settlers, 
"James  Burnham,  admitted  as  a  settler  in  17 10,"  and  "Benjamin 
Burnham,  admitted  as  a  settler  in  1726." 

Having  had  a  difficult  task  in  research  for  genealogical  informa- 
tion the  last  few  years  (with  imperfect  and  fragmentary  records), 
the  writer  has  deemed  it  a  fitting  service  to  render  his  native  town 
to  more  conveniently  arrange  for  observation  and  preservation  its 
records ;  that  hereafter  students  looking  up  family  history  may  be 
greatly  helped  in  finding  what  is  needed,  if  it  exists.  Lisbon  has  a 
large  representative  bod}-  scattered  through  the  States  of  the  Union, 
descendants  of  her  noble  stock,  who  have  to  come  back  to  her  for 
biographical  and  genealogical  family  history.  They  have  often 
turned  away  in  despair  that  they  could  find  so  little  to  enlighten  them. 

That  delightful  historical  writer  and  author,  Dr.  Hale,  of 
Boston,  says,  speaking  of  writers:  "For  one,  I  am  much  obliged 
to  anybody  who  tries  to  make  it  easy  for  me  to  read,"  and  again  he 
makes  the  following  memorandum:  "N.  B.  When  you  know  any- 
thing worth  knowing,  which  few  other  people  know,  write  it  down  at 
once." 

If  I  have  failed  to  fulfil  the  idea  of  the  first  quoted  paragraph, 
as  doubtless  I  have,  may  I  not  hope  in  some  small  measure  to  rescue 
some  facts  which  would  have  been  otherwise  lost  to  posterity? 
The  effort  has  cost  me  much  thought,  time,  and  labor,  to  which  my 
townsmen  are  welcome  if  the}'  will  but  look  lightly  upon  my  failure 
to  have  made  a  more  interesting  and  perfect  sketch. 

HENRY  F.  BISHOP,  D.D.S. 

332  East  88th  St.,  New  York.  July.  1903. 


CHAPTER  I. 


It  is  the  intention  of  the  writer  to  give  herewith  a  short  historical 
sketch  of  Lisbon,  both  before  and  after  its  incorporation  as  a  town 
in  1786 — down  to  the  present  time. 

Its  history  prior  to  its  incorporation  as  a  separate  town  was  iden- 
tified wholly  within  the  town  of  Norwich. 

Its  importance  was  duly  appreciated  by  the  people  of  that  ven- 
erable town,  Norwich,  which  gave  abundant  evidence  of  her  esteem 
for  the  worthy  inhabitants  of  this  part  of  her  territory,  sharing  with 
them  the  responsibilities  of  conducting  their  government,  seeking 
the  most  eminent  and  efficient  talent  among  her  best  citizens  in  all 
their  councils  to  meet  the  trying  times  of  the  period  of  our  revolu- 
tionary war.  The  situation  of  this  active  territory  of  Norwich  and 
vicinity  was  peculiar  ;  so  closely  connected  with  the  exposed  city  of 
New  London  on  the  one  side  (causing  therefore  anxiety  and  fear), 
and  of  Lebanon  on  the  other  side,  where  "Brother  Jonathan"  (Wash- 
ington's friend)  lived,  thereby  giving  hope  and  encouragement  to 
the  inhabitants,  who  had  already  been  struggling  for  life  and  liberty 
with  King  George  the  Third  for  many  previous  years. 

This  part  of  Norwich  quite  distinguished  herself  by  her  pa- 
triotism ;  she  enrolled  upon  her  records  some  quite  eminent  officers 
and  soldiers  in  our  revolutionary  war,  some  of  whom  never  lived  to 
see  the  glorious  results  which  came  out  of  their  devotion  to  their 
country  for  which  they  gave  their  precious  lives. 

Reviewing  Lisbon  for  its  hundred  years'  existence  as  a  town,  is 
not  so  much  a  task  of  searching  its  town  records  for  its  history : 
as  to  take  up  its  ecclesiastical  parishes  and  give  them  a  fair  view 
of  their  important  influences  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  town. 
Nearly  all  prominent  men  and  persons  of  influence  in  those  days  were 
actively  connected  with  their  local  churches  in  that  early  period 
of  our  history. 

Thus  necessarily  we  must  take  into  view  these  component  parts 
from  which  Lisbon's  antecedents  had  already  existed,  and  from 
which  it  was  possible  to  create  and  make  a  new  town  from  the  Nor- 
wich societies.  Newent  and  Hanover  were  familiar  names  before 
Lisbon  was  known,  or  had  any  significance  in  this  locality. 

The  historian  of  Norwich  relates  that  in  1718  sixteen  persons 
enrolled  among  its  inhabitants  were  denoted  "Farmers  settled  in  ye 
crotch  of  ye  Rivers,"  but  these  families  of  farmers,  which  included 
women,  children,  servants,  and  helpful  mechanics,  must  have  num- 
bered at  least  sixty,  or  even  more  than  seventv  people.  These  set- 
tlers had  now  come  to  a  conviction  that  thev  needed  an  assemblv  for 


public  worship,  and  were  willing  and  ready  to  make  appropriate  ef- 
forts to  secure  one  near  their  own  homes.  So  in  May  of  the  year 
1 718  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  Colonial  Legislature  bearing 
the  following:  names : 


Thomas  Walbridge, 
Samuel  Bishop, 
Josiah  Reed, 
William  Reed, 
Daniel  Longbottom, 
Eliezer  Jewett, 
David  Knight, 
David  Knight,  Jr.. 
George  Rood, 
John  Lamb, 
Samuel  Rood, 
Jabesh  Rood, 
John  Bacon, 
Moses  Hagget, 


William  Adams, 
Nathaniel  Dean, 
Joseph  Read, 
John  Bishop, 
Isaac  Larance, 
Isaac  Larance,  Jr., 
Samuel  Lothrop, 
John  Read, 
Samuel  Coy, 
Jeremiah  Tracy, 
Francis  Tracy, 
William  Walbridge, 
Timothy  Allen. 


The  humble  petition  of  the  farmers  on  the  Northeasterly  part 
of  Norwich  called  the  Crotch  of  the  River,  to  the  Honorable  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  now  sitting. 

"Whereas  our  habitations  have  been,  by  the  Providence  of 
God,  very  remote  from  the  place  of  public  worship,  not  only  by  reason 
of  the  distance,  but  by  reason  of  a  great  river,  which  is  not  only 
difficult,  but  at  all  time  dangerous  to  cross,  and  for  which  reason 
we  have  obtained  liberty  from  the  town  to  be  a  distinct  society  from 
them.  We,  whose  names  are  underwritten  with  the  rest  of  our 
inhabitants  do  humbly  pray  this  honorable  General  Assembly  will 
grant  us  the  liberty  of  being  a  distinct  society  from  them  of  the  town 
plot,  so  as  to  call  and  settle  an  orthodox  minister  to  be  with  us  and 
to  dispense  to  us  the  ordinances  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  If  we  may  have  your  establishment  of  us  in  the  capacity  of 
a  society  so  as  to  have  the  liberty  and  benefit  of  the  law  to  advan- 
tage us  to  maintain  a  minister  and  we  hope  we  shall  improve  the  same 
to  the  honor  of  God  and  to  our  spiritual  profit.  We,  the  subscribers 
do  humbly  pray  for  your  favorable  answer  to  this  our  petition." 

The  reply  came  as  follows  : 

"At  a  general  Assembly  holden  in  Hartford,  in  his  Majesty's 
colony  of  Connecticut  in  New  England  on  Thursday,  the  8th  day  of 
May  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  our  Sovereign,  Lord 
George,  King  of  Great  Britain,  etc.,  A.  D.  1718. — Upon  consideration 
of  the  farmers  inhabiting  between  the  rivers  Quinabaug  and  Shou- 
tucket  on  the  Northeasterly  part  of  the  town  of  Norwich  :  This  As- 
sembly do  now  grant  to  the  said  farmers  the  liberty  and  privilege 
of  a  parish  and  society  by  and  of  themselves  within  the  said  town  of 
Norwich  for  the  settling,  upholding  and  maintaining  the  public  wor- 


ship  of  God  amongst  them,  with  all  such  liberties,  powers  and  priv- 
ileges as  other  societies  and  congregations  in  this  colony  generally 
have  and  do  enjoy  by  law  ;  always  provided  that  the  said  farmers  bear 
their  proportionable  charges  in  the  town  until  they  have  procured  an 
orthodox  minister  among  them." 

Thus  was  constituted  the  third  ecclesiastical  society  in  Norwich 
called  "The  Xorth  East  Society," but  no  dates,  no  records  earlier  than 
the  5th  of  March,  1734,  can  be  found  of  it  officially,  although  es- 
tablished in  1 7 18.  It  may  be  well  to  observe  here  that  the  early 
custom  of  our  ancestors  when  they  settled  the  country  was  to  form 
these  associations  as  time  advanced  and  they  felt  the  need  of  them. 
Thus  Parish  societies  ante-dated  the  church  organizations  often 
times — yet  were  supposed  to  be  harmonious  and  to  be  consulted 
whenever  any  important  questions  were  to  be  decided,  such  as  the 
settlement  of  a  minister  or  pastor  among  them  to  preach  to  them  ;  the 
Parish  might  not  always  acquiesce  with  the  choice  of  the  Church 
for  a  candidate,  which  awkward  situation  would  show  this  double- 
headed  authority  at  times  to  be  quite  inconvenient. 

Norwich  proprietors  lost  no  time  in  endowing  the  new  Parish 
with  lands  for  its  minister's  aid.  Their  appropriations  made  the  first 
month  by  the  records  are  as  follows  :  "Land  belonging  to  the  minis- 
try in  the  crotch  of  the  river  Quena  Bauge  and  Shoutuckett  in  Nor- 
wich. Item  forty-three  acres  beginning  at  a  stone  by  a  run  of  water  on 
the  south  side  of  ye  road  against  John  Bacon's  house,"  &c,  &c, 
"which  further  describes  as  abutting  westerly  on  Comons  fifty-eight 
rods,  &c,  &c,  and  thence  by  land  of  Joseph  Read  and  easterly  to  road 
or  highway  to  ye  first  corner. 
Laid  out  May,  1718.  J.  C.  Huntington,  Saml.  Lothrop. 

We  find  also  another  record  of  a  deed  laid  out  of  forty-five 
acres,  lying  in  the  place  called  Wales  on  the  east  side  of  Shoutuckett 
River — with  bounds  recorded — abutting  westerly  upon  Joseph  Roaths 
<  Roads?)  jAMFS  Huntington,  )  Committee. 

Laid  out  1718.  Benajah  Bushnell,  ) 

The  above  imperfectly  represents  the  very  vague  descriptions 
of  their  plots  of  land,  but  are  noticed  here  to  show  the  generous  and 
fair  spirit  of  the  people  of  Norwich  toward  her  out-lying  towns- 
men in  the  North  East  Society. 

We  see  that  Wales  is  one  of  the  old  abandoned  names  once 
known  to  Lisbon's  early  locality.  On  its  eastern  side  Pabaquamsque 
was  the  name  for  that  part  located  where  Jeremiah  Tracy's  estate  was 
just  below  Jewett  City, — not  long  since  owned  by  Dr.  Rockwell  of 
Norwich.  Wequonnuc  was  on  the  west  another  name  known  locally. 
These  names,  however,  were  soon  lost  by  those  legally  established  by 
the  colonial  assembly. 

"January  17th,  1720.  In  town  meeting  ordered  that  if  the  Per- 
kinses at  their  return  from  Boston  do  not  bring  with  them  a  minister 
to  preach  in  the  crotch  of  the  river  or  satisfy  the  select  men,  they 


shall   have  one  speedily,   the  rate-makers   shall  put   them   into  the 
(Norwich  First  Society)  minister's  rates." 

Whether  a  minister  was  then  brought  or  not  cannot  be  said.  It 
appears  that  one  seasonably  came,  and  that  an  edifice  for  worship 
was  soon  erected.  "By  over  exertion  in  the  effort  the  energies  of  the 
people  were  strained."     They  sought  aid  from  the  Legislature  thus : 

"To  the  Honorable,  the  Governor,  and  company  of  his  Majes- 
ty's Colony  of  Connecticut,  in  New  England,  in  General  Court  as- 
sembled at  Hartford,  May  ye  ioth  1722  humbly  showeth. — That  it 
hath  pleased  Almighty  God  to  settle  ye  bounds  of  ye  habitations  of  ye 
inhabitants  of  ye  North  East  Society  in  Norwich  between  two  great 
1  ivers,  so  that  it  hath  ever  been  exceeding  difficult  for  us  ( when  our 
families  were  but  few  in  number)  to  attend  upon  ye  public  worship 
of  God  on  Sabbath  dayes  and  at  other  times  ;  but  now  our  families 
being  more  numerous  we  find  it  is  impossible  for  us  and  our  families 
to  attend  ye  publick  worship  of  God  as  we  should  do ;  therefore,  we 
ye  said  inhabitants  did  make  our  address  to  this  Honorable  Assemblv 
for  to  make  us  a  distinct  society  by  ourselves  and  to  give  us  ye  liberty 
for  to  set  up  ye  publick  worship  of  God  amongst  them,  and  it  was 
granted,  for  ye  which  favor  we  render  this  Honorable  Assembly 
humble  and  hearty  thanks  and  we  have  proceeded  in  ye  premises  so 
far  yt  we  have  raised  and  covered  a  meeting  house  big  enough 
for  to  hold  our  inhabitants,  and  at  present  we  have  (with  us)  a  min- 
ister yt  preaches  ye  gospel  amongst  us  to  our  good  satisfaction,  and 
we  humbly  hope  we  are  heartily  willing  for  to  expose  ourselves  and 
our  estates  for  to  carry  on  such  a  great  and  good  work,  and  there- 
by to  promote  ye  Glory  of  God  and  ye  good  of  souls,  but  we  being 
but  few  in  number  and  but  little  and  low  in  estate,  and  therefore  tin- 
capable  to  carry  on  so  great  a  work  as  we  ought  to  do,  without  ye 
help  and  assistance  of  this  Honorable  Assembly.  Therefore  we 
think  it  is  our  undoubted  duty  to  spread  our  case  before  this  Honor- 
able Assembly  and  humbly  begg  yt  favour  of  this  Assembly  for  to 
give  us,  ye  inhabitants  of  ye  said  Society,  ye  liberty  for  to  improve 
that  money  yt  is,  or  may  be,  due  from  our  estate  to  this  colony,  for 
three  years  next  ensuing,  towards  the  setting  up  of  ye  publick  wor- 
ship of  God  amongst  us,  and  we  as  in  duty  bound  shall  ever  pray." 

Joseph  Perkins, 
Jabez   Perkins, 
Samuel  Bishop, 
Committee  in  behalf  of  Society. 

The. answer  obtained  was  as  follows: — 

"Upon  the  prayer  of  the  North  East  Society  in  Norwich,  rep- 
resenting their  difficulty  in  respect  to  settling  a  minister :  This  as- 
sembly grants  them  their  parts  of  the  country's  rates,  or  taxes,  that 
may  be  granted  for  the  space  of  two  years  to  come :  and  the  constable 
of  Norwich  who  collects  the  country  rate  there,  is  hereby  ordered  to 
collect  the  same  as  usual  and  deliver  the  same  to  the  committee  of 


13 

said  Society,  according  to  their  list,  for  the  space  of  two  years  as 
aforesaid." 

Tims  the  colonial  Legislature  at  its  session  October,  1722,  in 
granting  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  of  North  East  Society  in  Nor- 
wich for  rebate  of  three  years'  taxes  gave  them  two  years'  taxes  and 
established  a  new  name  for  it  as  follows  : 

"Resolved  by  this  Assembly.  That  for  the  future  the  North 
East  Society  or  parish  in  the  town  of  Norwich  be  called  by  the  name 
of  Newent." 

Before  proceeding  to  the  history  of  Newent,  it  is  quite  proper  to 
speak  of  Norwich  in  its  earlier  relation  to  Newent  and  subsequently 
Lisbon. 

Norwich  was  founded  and  settled  in  1660.  Part  of  her  settlers 
came  from  Saybrook,  Ct.,  where  the  Rev.  James  Fitch  has  the  record 
of  having  been  settled  and  preached  in  both  Saybrook  and  Norwich. 
A  greater  part  of  the  settlers,  however,  were  from  Ipswich,  Mass., 
and  among  them  we  have  noticed  on  the  Parish  Committee  Joseph 
and  Jacob  Perkins  and  Samuel  Bishop,  and  later  Mathew  Perkins 
and  other  men  of  Ipswich.  As  early  as  1659  the  Indian  chief  Umcas, 
with  his  brother  Wawequaw.  and  his  two  sons,  Owaneco  and  Atta- 
wamhood,  united  in  giving  Major  Mason  (so  wrell  known  in  our 
early  history)  a  deed  of  sale  in  the  months  of  June  and  August  of 
that  year  for  a  tract  of  land  nine  miles  square  for  seventy  pounds  ; 
a  part  of  this  land  afterwards  became  Lisbon. 

The  Ipswich  settlers,  as  above  stated,  had  become  large  land 
proprietors  here,  and  it  is  supposed  that  many  of  them  originally 
came  from  Newent,  England — a  town  112  miles  from  London  and 
eight  miles  from  Gloucester — to  Ipswich,  and  had  then  made  choice 
of  the  name  Newent  for  this  new  North  East  Society  of  Norwich. 

This  territory  has  a  right  to  claim  and  share  with  Norwich  in  all 
her  historical  fame  and  honors  of  the  past. 

It  was  but  a  few  years  later  when  Capt.  Fitch,  another  well- 
known  early  settler,  obtained  a  deed  of  trust  from  Uncas's  son 
Owaneco  giving  him  absolute  possession  of  the  first  tract,  and  of 
other  tracts  of  land.  This  confusion  gave  the  Norwich  proprietors 
very  much  trouble  and  anxiety  till  settled. 

In  1725  the  Mohegan  title  was  quitclaimed  to  Lieut.  Samuel 
Bishop  and  others  ;  and  in  1745  was  altogether  surrendered  by  a  deed 
to  Capt.  Samuel  Bishop  and  others.  Much  dissatisfaction  was  felt 
against  Capt.  Fitch,  who  was  a  son  of  the  Pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Fitch, 
who  was  fond  of  conferring  spiritual  blessings  upon  the  Indians  ; 
while  the  son  sought  to  get  temporal  advantage  from  them.  As  pur- 
chasers from  Capt.  Fitch  there  were  five  prominent  men  then  of  Ips- 
wich, Mass., — Samuel  Bishop,  Mesbach  Farley,  Mathew  Perkins. 
Joseph  Safrord  and  Richard  Smith.  Capt.  Fitch  made  over  to  them 
the  so-called  eighteen  hundred  acre  grant.  Jacob  Perkins  and 
Joseph  Perkins,  also  of  Ipswich,  and  brothers  of  the  forementioned 
Mathew  Perkins,  bought  soon  after  a  grant  of  what  the  five  associ- 
ated had  purchased,  and  also  more  of  the  territory  adjoining.    Rich- 


'4 

ard  Adams  of  either  Sudbury  or  Chlemsford.  Alass.  (in  addition  to 
three  thousand  acres  north  of  this  territory,  which  in  1703  he  by 
deeds  of  gift  partitioned  to  his  five  sons),  obtained  soon,  perhaps 
before  1700,  land  within  this  locality,  which  land,  descending  from 
one  of  his  sons  through  a  contiuecl  series  of  male  heirs,  his  pos- 
terity bave  retained  until  to-day. 

Following  up  this  Connecticut  Newent  we  find  that  the  Rev. 
Levi  Nelson  says,  in  his  half  century  sermon,  "I  have  been  unable  to 
learn  when  the  first  meeting  house  in  Newent  was  erected.  It  stood 
where  Mr.  Daniel  Hatch's  house  now  is.  This  was  the  only  place  in 
what  is  now  Lisbon  ( with  one  exception,  which  we  shall  notice  here- 
after) where  the  inhabitants  used  to  attend  public  worship,  till  after 
the  Hanover  Society  was  organized,  which  was  in  the  year  1766." 
The  exception  Mr.  Nelson  referred  to  was  the  meeting  house  of  the 
separatists  which  stood  on  the  hill  west  of  the  present  church's  local- 
ity as  long  as  needed,  when  it  was  taken  down  and  its  frame  was 
carted  to  the  easterly  section  of  the  parish  and  was  made  into  a  barn 
on  the  Tracy  farm.  Quoting  further  from  Mr.  Nelson's  half  cen- 
tury sermon,  "The  whole  town  of  Lisbon  was  formerly  called  Newent 
society  the  third  in  Norwich.  According  to  the  best  information  I 
have  been  able  to  obtain,  it  received  this  name  from  Newent,  Glou- 
cester County,  England,  from  the  inhabitants  of  which  many  of  the 
first  settlers  of  this  town  descended.  Though  their  relations,  who  re- 
mained in  England,  might  never  have  seen  some  of  them,  it  is  evident 
they  cared  for  them,  for  when  organized  as  a  church  these  friends  in 
England  made  them  a  present  of  a  large  folio  work  of  the  venerable 
and  indefatigable  Richard  Baxter,  containing  a  very  complete  set  of 
his  works."  The  church  made  good  use  of  it,  as  he  says  an  aged 
member  once  informed  him  that  he  had  spent  many  a  Sabbath  inter- 
mission hearing  the  book  read. 

The  site  of  this  first  meeting  house  was  about  half  a  mile  south 
of  the  present  church  edifice,  west  of  where  the  Providence,  Hartford 
and  Fishkill  Railroad  crosses  the  highway.  But  little  or  nothing  is 
know  of  its  stvle  or  size,  but  parish  records  show  that  it  was  not  des- 
titute of  decoration,  at  least  a  "cushen"  had  a  place  in  us  puipit. 

At  the  Spring  session  of  the  colony's  Assembly  now  sitting  at 
Hartford  May  ye  9th,  1723,  the  petition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Newent 
in  Norwich  humbly  sheweth  : — "That  we  inhabitants  of  s'd  society 
have  called  Mr.  Daniel  Kirkland  to  be  our  minister  to  carry  on  the 
worship  of  God  among  us,  and  have  peaceably  agreed  with  him 
both  for  a  salary  and  settlement,  therefore  your  petitioners  pray  that 
they  may  have  liberty  to  ordain  the  said  Air.  Kirkland  and  to  em- 
body a  church  there,  by  and  with  the  consent  of  the  neighboring 
churches.  And  your  petitioners  shall  ever  pray. 
Dated  Newent,  May  7th,  1723. 

Jabez    Perkins,     J 

Joseph   Perkins,  >  Committee. 

Sam uel  Bishop,    ' 


'5 

At  the  same  session  the  petition  received  was  answered  as  fol- 
lows : — "This  assembly  grant  unto  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish  of 
Newent  in  Norwich  liberty  to  imbody  themselves  into  church  estate 
and  to  settle  an  orthodox  minister  amongst  them,  with  the  approba- 
tion of  the  neighboring  churches." 

Towards  the  end  of  that  year  there  was  sent  to  neighboring 
churches  a  "call"  expressed,  subscribed  and  dated  thus,  viz. : 

"We  the  bretheren  of  the  North  East  Society  in  Norwich  sub- 
scribing hereunto  have,  after  sufficient  time  of  Probation,  and  with 
mature  deliberation,  unanimously  invited  and  called  Mr.  Daniel  Kirk- 
land  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  among  us  in  this  place  desiring  he 
may  have  the  pastorate  charge  of  us  in  the  Lord. 
Newent  in  Norwich,  November  18,  1723. 

Joseph  Perkins,  William   Read,  Jr.. 

Jabez    Perkins.  John  Safford, 

John  Read.  Nathan  Bush n ell. 

Isaac  Lawrence,  Samuel  Lothrop, 

Isaac  Lawrence,  Jr.,  Timothy  Allen, 

Jeremiah  Tracy,  Daniel  Knight,  Jr. 

The  ministers  and  churches  which  assisted  in  the  constitution  of 
the  church  and  ordination  of  the  Pastor  on  the  10th  of  December, 
1723,  were  : 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Whiting 

and  the  messengers. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Solomon  Treat,  of  Preston, 

and  the  messengers. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Estabrooks,  of  Canterbury. 

and  the  messengers. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Azariah  Mather,  of  Saybrook, 

and  the  messengers. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Benjamin  Lord,  of  Norwich, 

and  the  messengers. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Henry  Willis,  of  Norwich, 

and  the  messengers. 

On  the  10th  of  December,  Anno  Domini  1723,  the  church  was 
constituted  and  Daniel  Kirkland  ordained  Pastor,  the  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Whiting  gave  the  charge  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Estabrooks 
the  right  hand  of  good  fellowship. 

This  council  called  to  ordain  Rev.  Mr.  Kirkland  was  quite  a  dis- 
tinguished selection  of  men,  important  not  only  as  ministers,  but  as 
well  in  other  spheres  of  life.  Rev.  Samuel  Whiting  was  from  a  Boston 
(England)  family  and  his  grandfather  had  been  Mayor  of  that  City. 
Rev.  Mr.  Treat  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  1694.  Mr.  Ma- 
ther, a  graduate  of  Yale  College  1705  ;  his  kinsman.  Cotton  Mather, 
is  more  widely  known.     Rev.  Benjamin  Lord  was  a  graduate  of  Yale 


i6 

College  i / 14,  and  had  been  pastor  in  Norwich  six  years  (the  first 
year  of  which  he  had  been  sole  pastor.  He  lived  to  see  eight  pas- 
tors and  churches  on  the  same'territory  and  to  see  it  partitioned  into 
four  towns.)  The  Rev.  Henry  Willis,  graduated  Yale  College  17 15, 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Estabrooks,  who  was  graduated  from  Harvard 
College  1696. 

In  the  first  year  after  the  birth  of  the  Newent  Church  she  re- 
ceived into  complete  fellowship  twenty-seven  persons ;  in  the  second 
year  after,  seventeen  ;  in  the  four  next  following  years,  twenty-one ; 
so  that  the  thirteen  original  members  composed,  with  the  additions, 
a  number  in  the  seventh  year  scarcely  differing  by  one  from  its  num- 
ber when  the  church  was  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  old.  There 
were  no  other  additions  recorded  until  1 741-2,  when  were  received 
thirty-five,  showing  a  religious  revival  had  been  experienced  in  their 
immediate  past.  But  very  soon  Newent  Church  as  well  as  other 
churches  in  this  part  of  the  State  were  in  much  trouble  and  confu- 
sion in  consequence  of  prevailing  ideas  which  were  supposed  to  be 
too  restrictive  wherein  the  general  custom  had  been  to  ostracize  or 
keep  men  out  of  office  who  were  not  closely  connected  in  church 
membership,  etc.  Then  there  had  in  this  vicinity  sprung  up  a  very 
general  following  of  a  sect  called  Separatist,  who  were  active,  almost 
aggressive,  who  seemed  to  make  great  inroads  upon  these  earlier 
established  churches,  and  for  a  while  gave  no  little  trouble  and  anx- 
iety to  these  orthodox  existing  societies.  However,  they  had  their 
day,  and  not  long  afterwards  they  seemed  to  have  died  out  and  lost 
their  vital  interest.  The  first  of  their  churches  was  formed  in  Can- 
terbury, 1744.  Not  long  after  a  Separatist  Church  was  formed  in 
Newent,  made  up  of  disaffected,  but  undismissed  members  of  the 
Newent  Church.  Owing  to  the  distraction  the  Newent  Church  rec- 
ords are  entirely  a  blank  in  respect  to  that  period,  1744  to  1755.  Some 
few  records  were  afterwards  added,  but  nothing  like  a  full  report. 
The  reasons  alleged  for  leaving  the  regular  church  were : — want  of 
edification  from  the  church's  minister  ;  church's  lacking  gospel  order, 
as  having  no  ordained  ruling  elder,  and  no  ordained  deacons  ;  owned 
Christ  in  words,  but  in  deeds  denied  Him,  etc.,  etc.  The  Separat- 
ists generally  encouraged  lay-preaching  more  than  most  Congrega- 
tionalists  were  wont  to  do.  By  credible  information  we  find  a  record 
that  one  "Jeremiah  Tracy,  Jr.,  has  taken  upon  him  to  be  a  preacher, 
a  calling  which  we  don't  apprehend  God  has  called  him  to." 

So  far  as  known  the  Separatist  Church  in  Newent  had  none 
other  than  lay-preachers  till  Mr.  Bliss  Willoughby  was  ordained  its 
pastor  in  1753.  Its  meeting  house,  as  has  been  described,  stood  upon 
the  hill-crest  directly  north  of  where  the  late  Sanford  Bromley's 
dwelling  house  stood,  and  was  later  torn  down.  The  Separatists  tol- 
erated some  serious  errors.  Their  practice  was  not  wholly  the 
"Meekness  of  wisdom."  However,  they  opposed  the  unrighteous 
management  of  the  civil  power  in  forcing  men  by  taxes,  and  severer 
means  to  uphold  church  ministrations,  and  in  many  other  ways 
they  wrought  some  good,  but  also  excited  sensitive  men  who  were 


17 

highly  organized  into  a  mental  and  physical  strain  liable  to  break 
them  down.  The  first  pastor  of  the  Newent  Church  was  sensitively  or- 
ganized, previously  showing  with  other  citizens  the  trouble  wrought 
everywhere  by  a  currency  lessening  in  value,  and  worn  down  by 
labor  for  nearly  thirty  years,  and  harassed  by  the  dissensions  here, 
the  last  of  these  strains  nearly  prostrated  him.  A  biographical  work 
affirms  that  "after  thirty  years  he  became  deranged."  The  eccle- 
siastical council,  however,  which  in  compliance  with  his  own  request 
convened  here  with  reference  to  dismissing  him,  did  not  regard  him 
as  deranged.  The  question  was  formally  put  to  them  as  one  having 
legal  bearings,  whether  Mr.  Kirkland  was  sane,  and  having  been  an- 
swered affirmatively  by  the  council,  it  ought  to  settle  that  matter. 

Mr.  Kirkland' s  pastoral  connection  in  Newent  was  dissolved 
on  the  4th  of  January,  1753.  He  was  afterwards  a  pastor  in  Gro- 
ton  from  1755-8.  After  his  release  there  he  came  back  to  Newent 
and  here  on  the  17th  of  May,  1773,  he  died;  his  ministry  covering 
nearly  fifty  years.     He  had  six  daughters  and  five  sons. 

Between  April,  1753,  and  September,  1756,  the  Newent  Society, 
after  they  had  been  temporarily  supplied  by  the  preaching  of  Henry 
Willes,  from  the  West  Farms  pastorate,  voted  that  six  other  can- 
didates should  be  invited  to  preach  to  them  as  candidates  for  settle- 
ment, or  as  one  of  the  votes  expressed  it,  "to  preach  to  us  as  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel  upon  trial."  Those  persons  as  specified  were  Mr. 
Packer  (Elijah  Packard),  Mr.  John  Curtiss,  Rev.  (Ebenezer?) 
Mills,  "the  worthy  Mr.  Benjamin  Chapman,"  "the  worthy  Mr.  Noah 
Wadham,"  and  "the  worthy  Mr.  Peter  Powers."  The  last  named 
received  due  invitation  from  the  Church  and  from  the  Society  and 
accepted  the  charge. 

Ordination  of  Rev.  Peter  Powers,  who  graduated  at  Harvard 
College,  1754.  Had  as  classmate  John  Hancock  of  Boston,  L.L.D. 
Seven  churches,  including  the  one  at  Mr.  Powers'  home,  Hollis,  N. 
H.,  and  one  at  Mrs.  Powers'  former  residing  place,  Sutton,  Mass., 
met  the  2d  of  December,  1756,  by  due  summons  and  its  record  of 
action  is  thus,  viz. :  The  council  being  opened  by  prayer,  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  examination  of  the  s'd  Mr.  Powers  respecting  his  min- 
isterial qualifications  ;  who  approved  himself  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
council  ;  and  at  the  same  time  there  was  a  confession  of  faith  ex- 
hibited (agreeable  to  the  confession  of  the  faith  of  the  churches)  and 
also  a  church  covenant,  mutually  signed  by  Mr.  Powers  and  the 
bretheren  of  the  church.  Thus  the  ordination  was  accordingly  per- 
formed on  s'd  day — December  2,  1756. 

(Signed)  Benjamin  Lord,  Moderator. 

Mr.  Powers'  ministry  in  Newent  commenced  with  certain  favor- 
able indications.  The  Parish  now  included  no  Indian  clans,  the  heirs 
of  poor  Knight  Owanoco — Uncas'  Son — having,  after  his  own  ex- 
ample, fallen  into  a  low  condition,  had  in  1745  sold  the  Indian  reser- 
vation to  Newent  citizens.  The  dwindled  number  of  Indians  re- 
maining within  the  parish  had  quit  the  aboriginal  way  of  living ; 


i8 

many  of  them  were  rural  laborers,  domestic  servants,  some  becom- 
ing church  members,  and  reputed  as  Christians.  A  quit-claim  given 
to  Newent,  1752,  of,  as  the  words  are,  the  "land  where  their  meet- 
ing-house now  stands"  had  freed  the  parish  of  its  liability  to  lose 
by  proscription  what  before  it  doubtfully  held  by  prescription. 
Turbulence  in  the  community  was  subsiding.  On  the  other  hand, 
Mr.  Powers'  ministry  here  was  from  first  to  last  attended  by 
many  unfavorable  things.  The  material  and  the  moral  resources 
of  all  the  New  England  colonies  were  largely  drawn  upon  by 
the  mother  country's  military  operations,  directed  against  the 
French,  the  events  of  which  made  Canada  an  English  colony.  Con- 
necticut in  particular  did  its  full  share  of  the  hard  work  and  bore 
its  full  share  of  the  heavy  burdens  involved.  As  elsewhere  in  Con- 
necticut, so  in  Newent.  Worshippers  were  taxed  by  Newent  parish 
and  in  default  of  payment  otherwise  were  made  to  undergo  distrain- 
ing pressure.  The  Pastor  and  others  like-minded  could  not  make 
their  aversion  to  this  odious  established  infringement  on  personal 
preferences,  and  conscientious  convictions,  effectual,  towards  the 
adoption  of  a  different  practice. 

When  Rev.  Mr.  Kirkland's  pastoral  relation  to  Newent  ceased 
there  were  twenty-nine  male  members  of  the  church.  The  number 
of  male  members  who,  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Powers'  ordination,  sub- 
scribed to  the  church's  covenant  was  twenty.  During  his  ministry 
the  church  received  into  its  membership  seventy-four  persons — males 
twenty-five,  females  forty-nine.  The  working  power  of  the  church 
was  later  diminished  by  the  formation  in  1761  of  a  new  parish 
called  Hanover,  the  seventh  in  Norwich,  to  which  parish  the  incor- 
porating act  assigned  nearly  half  of  Newent's  territory  and  some- 
what of  territories  from  Canterbury  and  Scotland  parishes.  Par- 
ticulars of  the  matter  are  found  in  the  Newent's  Society's  records, 
and  in  the  ancient  documents  preserved  in  the  State's  librarv. 
There  also  was,  as  the  same  authorities  show,  another  matter  agitated 
through  the  latter  half  of  Mr.  Powers'  pastorate  here  ;  the  question 
whether  or  not  a  new  house  for  worship  should  be  built  in  Newent, 
and  the  more  distracting  inquiry  "where  shall  a  new  house  for  that 
purpose  be  set?"  These  questions  were  followed  by  discussions, 
proposals  and  counter-proposals,  petitions  and  counter-petitions, 
with  application  to  the  County  Court  and  to  the  Colonial  General 
Assembly,  all,  as  to  result,  in  vain.  The  Society  waxed  not,  mean- 
while the  Church  waned.  The  Pastor,  a  man  as  brave  as  he  was 
tender  hearted,  and  as  wise  as  he  was  faithful,  was  impoverished. 
Tt  was  appointed  him,  though  at  this  time  he  did  not  know  it,  to 
reap  a  rich  spiritual  harvest,  where  before  him  no  spiritual  reaper, 
and  no  spiritual  sower  had  been. 

Mr.  Powers'  dismissal  from  Newent  occurred  June  20,  1704. 
He  went  from  Newent  to  Haverhill,  N.  H.,  afterwards  he  was  set- 
tled as  a  Pastor  in  Maine,  where  he  died.  About  this  time  broad- 
spread  and  well-founded  discontent  with  England's  misrule  of  her 
American  colonies  was  manifest.     The  patriot   was  watching  with 


l9 

fear  the  gathering"  clouds  of  the  great  political  tempest,  which  was 
soon  to  burst  forth,  menacing  ruin  to  Liberty,  dear  to  him  as  his 
life.     It  was  the  era  marked  by  the  Stamp  Act,  1764. 

In  the  year  1766  the  eighth  church  in  Norwich,  called  Hanover, 
was  founded.  The  Separatists  and  church  had  become  as  sheep 
without  a  shepherd,  Mr.  Willoughby,  after  supervising  them  for  two 
or  three  years,  and  after  visiting  England  as  an  agent  of  Sepa- 
ratists generally,  had  re-crossed  the  ocean  and  having  gone  to 
another  denomination,  preached  at  Bennington,  Vt.  The  Separatist 
house  of  worship  was  for  sale  in  1768  and  probably  the  Newent 
Separatist  church  about  that  date  was  disbanded.  There  is  a  proba- 
bility that  a  few  became  Baptists ;  a  few  others  of  them  may  have 
joined  the  Eighth  Society  in  Xor which  at  Portipaug,  a  section  of 
West  Farms.  A  considerable  number  of  Newent  people,  once  mem- 
bers of  the  disbanded  church,  also  some  Hanover  people,  who  had 
been  members  of  the  Brunswick  church,  were  afterwards  received 
into  the  Newent  church.  During  the  changes  which  marked  these 
years  there  came  more  of  quiet  to  the  Newent  society.  Discordance 
in  opinions'  was  lessening  and  harmony  of  feeling  was  increasing 
through  the  community. 

A  meeting  of  the  Newent  society  was  held  January  12,  1769, 
wherein  a  vote  was  taken  and  sixteen  of  the  prominent  citizens  of 
Newent  openly  subscribed  their  names  and  their  pledges  to  pay  for 
the  current  year,  all  taxes  of  the  Separatists  which  might  be  as- 
sessed upon  them  ;  providing,  such  persons  appear  to  be  sober  and 
conscientious  persons. 

Thirteen  months  later,  in  February,  1770,  we  find  as  follows: 
"At  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  ye  Society  of  Newent,  in  ye 
town  of  Norwich,  legally  warned  and  held  in  said  Newent,  ye  fifth 
day  of  February,  1770,  Capt.  Jeremiah  Kinsman,  Moderator,  voted 
to  proceed  to  build  a  new  meeting  house  at  the  stake  or  place  affixed 
by  the  County  Court  for  that  purpose,  and  the  money  to  be  raised 
by  way  of  subscription,  as  has  been  proposed  to  pay  ye  cost  of 
building  said  house  ;  and  we  do  agree  to  proceed  forthwith  to  pro- 
vide oak,  and  pine  boards  and  other  stuff  necessary  for  the  work ; 
and  next  winter  to  get  the  frame  and  then  proceed  as  fast  as  we 
can  with  convenience  to  finish  s'd  house." 

At  the  same  meeting  these  gentlemen  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee "to  survey  the  Society's  land  called  the  meeting  house  lot, 
where  ye  old  meeting  house  now  stands,  with  full  power  and  author- 
ity to  make  sale  of  ye  same  to  ye  best  advantage  .  .  .  and  ye 
money  to  be  improved  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  new  meeting 
house  in  this  Society."  "On  ye  27th  day  of  November,  1770,  the 
Society  unanimously  concurred  in  the  call  which  the  church,  20th 
October,  1770.  had  given  ye  worthy  Mr.  Joel  Benedict  to  become  its 
pastor."  Measures  including  a  proposition  to  provide  land  "for  a 
parsonage"  were  soon  after  adopted.  The  frame  of  the  new  house 
of  worship  was  set  up  on  its  new  glebe  by  two  days'  labor,  Tuesday 
and  Wednesday.  29th  and  30th  May,  1771. 


Notes  of  hand  were  given  19th  March,  1772,  the  largest  by  Dr. 
Joseph  Perkins  "for  finishing  ye  meeting  house."  Mr.  Kirklancl, 
the  first  pastor  of  the  church  had  died  the  week  next  preceding  the 
one  in  which  this  second  church  building  near  to  his  dwelling  house 
was  raised.  The  site  of  the  new  building  is  the  same  which  is  now 
the  site  of  the  Newent  church.  The  architect  and  builder  of  the 
edifice  (No.  2)  was  Captain  Ebenezer  Tracy  of  Newent. 


SETTLEMENT    OF    MR.  JOEL    BENEDICT 

AS  THIRD  PASTOR  OF  NEWENT  CHURCH. 

Letters  having  been  sent  for  the  purpose  to  seven  churches  in 
New  London  and  Windham  Counties  an  ecclesiastical  council  was 
convened  and  Mr.  Benedict,  after  reception  as  a  member  of  the 
church,  was  ordained  21st  of  February,  1771.  In  the  sermon 
preached  by  Mr.  Hart  he  says,  addressing  the  church :  "Happy  after 
all  your  divisions  and  trials  to  see  this  day !  Thrice  happy  if  you 
continue  steadfast  to  the  end.  Take  heed  therefore  that  ye  fall  not 
out  by  the  way.  Love  one  another,  love  your  pastor,  but  love  Christ 
above  all.  Esteem  your  minister  highly  for  his  work's  sake,  assist 
him  with  your  prayers,  receive  the  counsel  of  God  from  his  mouth, 
practice  it  in  your  lives,  and  follow  him  in  all  things  wherein  he  fol- 
loweth  Christ."  Mr.  Benedict  (Gr.  C.  N.  J.,  1765)  always  holding 
amicable  relations  with  his  flock,  spent  a  few  years  here  with  success. 
In  his  letter,  which  conveyed  to  the  church  his  acceptance  of  their 
call  to  its  pastorate,  was  expressed  his  apprehensions  that  "A  num- 
ber should  fall  away  from  their  engagements,"  so  that  as  he  ex- 
pressed it  "you  should  think  it  too  great  a  burthen  to  raise  the  stip- 
ulated support."  What  he  then  mentioned  and  suspected  occurred. 
The  last  years  of  his  ministry  in  Newent  were  those  in  which  his 
congregation,  in  common  with  all  American  citizens,  felt  most  se- 
verely the  pressure  brought  on  them  by  the  revolutionary  war.  The 
records  of  the  church  for  those  years,  1779-82,  show  that  "thro"  the 
difficulties  of  the  present  time,  by  reason  of  the  heavy  taxes  for 
support  of  the  war,  there  was  so  great  a  failure  in  the  Society  in 
furnishing  the  pastor  with  sufficient  maintenance  that  he  had  of 
necessity  sold  his  dwelling-house  and  was  obliged  to  part  with  land 
and  was  driven  to  secular  business  for  his  support.  The  church 
having  a  desire  to  continue  the  connection  "were  not  able  to  make  up 
the  deficiencies  of  the  people,"  and  although  the  Society  on  the  day 
when  a  council  was  in  session  and  considering  whether  or  not  he 
should  remain  pastor  here  declared  itself  "willing  to  endeavor"  to 
raise  by  subscription  means  of  providing  "a  parsonage  lot  and  a 
house  for  Mr.  Benedict"  the  council  averse  to  the  Society's  ex- 
pressed "desire"  for  his  continuance  in  Newent,  yet  consented  to  his 
dismissal  on  the  30th  of  April,  1782.  The  children  of  Dr.  Benedict 
and  Sarah  McKown  were  four  sons  and  seven  daughters. 


From  1784  Dr.  Benedict  was  Pastor  of  the  church  in  PJainfield, 
where,  as  its  pastor,  he  died  in  1816. 

For  a  period  extending  from  30th  October,  1782,  to  31st  Octo- 
ber, 1788,  the  Society  records  contain  no  entries  whatever  and  the 
church  records  as  to  that  period  and  a  year  or  two  next  after  are 
almost  as  void. 

It  is,  however,  unquestionable  that  Newent  received  its  propor- 
tion of  the  secular  prosperity  which  the  whole  nation  obtained  after 
the  close  of  the  contest  by  which  its  independence  was  established. 
And  an  era  of  good  was  at  hand  when,  having  for  seventy  years  had 
so  much  disquiet,  Newent  with  Hanover  became,  in  1786,  Lisbon. 
Two  years  before  this  Newent  parish,  August  25th,  1784,  appointed 
Captain  Jabez  Perkins,  Captain  Elisha  Morgan,  and  Captain  Ezra 
Bishop  as  a  committee  to  forward  a  subscription  for  the  purpose  of 
creating  a  permanent  fund  in  aid  of  the  parish  of  the  Society  of 
Newent  in  the  town  of  Norwich.  This  committee  prepared  an  in- 
strument which  recited  that  "in  the  present  circumstances  of  said  So- 
ciety, no  method  can  be  devised  so  likely  to  lay  a  sure  and  lasting 
foundation  for  supplying  and  supporting  a  minister  in  said  society 
as  that  of  raising  a  bank  or  fund  so  large  as  that  the  annual  interest 
thereof  shall  be  sufficient  to  pay  the  yearly  salary  that  shall  be  here- 
after agreed  upon."  This  instrument  was  subscribed  to  by  sixty 
persons,  the  sums  severally  subscribed  ranged  from  £2  the  minimum 
to  £70  the  maximum,  including  one  of  that  amount,  with  three  of 
£60.  The  total  amount  in  1873  of  this  fund  was  Ten  Thousand 
Dollars. 

The  Society's  pecuniary  account  with  the  Rev.  Joel  Benedict 
was  not  settled  till  8th  of  June,  1792,  when  by  paying  £31  to  him  and 
getting  a  discharge  in  full  from  him  the  settlement  was  accom- 
plished. 

SETTLEMENT  OF  REV.  DAVID  HALE. 
June  2,  1790. 

Rev.  David  Hale  was  settled  as  the  fourth  pastor  of  Newent 
church,  which  had  now  become  the  first  church  of  Lisbon.  When 
his  predecessor,  Rev.  Joel  Benedict,  -was  settled  in  1771  as  the  third 
pastor  of  this  church,  the  church  was  still  in  Norwich. 

This  first  church  of  Christ  in  Lisbon  on  the  21st  of  December, 

1789,  called  Rev.  David  Hale  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  among 
them.  Mr.  Hale  having,  by  a  letter  dated  May  n,  1790,  accepted 
the  call,  an  ecclesiastical  council  was  summoned  to  meet  2d  June, 

1790,  and  he  was  inducted  into  that  work  by  installation. 

As  Mr.  Hale  had  from  early  infancy  been  reared  under  the 
ministry  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Huntington,  of  Coventry,  it  is  not 
remarkable  that  Dr.  Huntington,  being  presiding  officer  of  that 
council,  both  preached  the  sermon  and  gave  the  charge  to  the 
pastor  on  that  occasion.      It   may,  however,   be  worthy  of  remark 


that  after  the  council  had  "Proceeded  to  examine  s'd  pastor  elect 
respecting  the  principles  of  his  faith"  which  doubtless  he  set  forth 
distinctly  and  fully,  "the  council  voted  satisfied" ;  Mr.  Hale,  as  the 
minutes  of  the  Council  relates,  signified  his  approbation  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  congregational  churches.  That  approbation  is  notice- 
able, because  at  that  time  efforts  were  for  a  second  time  made,  es- 
pecially in  Connecticut,  to  make  little  of  congregational  principles, 
and  the  foremost  congregational  minister  in  this  State  accustomed 
himself  to  join  with  others  in  styling  the  congregational  churches 
Presbyterians.  It  is  noticeable  because  Mr.  Hale  had,  in  an  adjacent 
State  out  of  New  England,  been  ordained  by  Presbyterian  ministers, 
he  having  settled  in  Suffolk  County  on  Long  Island  previously  and 
brought  testimonials  from  Presbyterians  there  to  this  church  in 
Newent.  This  Rev.  David  Hale  was  a  distinguished  member  of  a 
very  distinguished  family  and  deserves  a  more  extended  notice  on 
that  account.  He  was  born  in  Coventry,  14th  December,  1761,  grad- 
uate Yale  College  1785,  died  in  his  native  town  10th  February.  1822. 
He  was  a  son  of  Richard  Hale.  Among  his  earlier  ancestors  was  a 
Robert  and  a  John.  John  Hale  had  a  son,  Samuel  Hale,  who  resided 
in  Newburyport,  Mass.,  whose  oldest  son  was  Richard  Hale.  He 
removed  to  Coventry,  Conn.,  married  Elizabeth  Strong  of  that  place 
and  there  died  1802,  aged  eighty-five  years.  He  and  his  wife  Eliza- 
beth had  twelve  children,  of  which  the  third,  Joseph  Hale,  an  officer 
of  the  Revolutionary  army,  was  father  of  Mary,  the  second  wife  of 
Rev.  Levi  Nelson,  who  spent  the  whole  of  her  married  life  in  Lisbon. 
She  died  May  2d,  1851,  aged  sixty-eight  years.  Her  father's 
brother,  Enoch,  was  the  third  son  of  Richard,  graduate  Yale  Col- 
lege 1773;  was  first  pastor  of  the  church  in  Westhampton,  Mass., 
and  a  member  of  the  convention  for  the  amending  the  constitution 
of  Massachusetts,  and  he  was  father  of  Nathan  Hale,  LL.D.,  who  was 
graduated  W.  C.  1804,  once  editor  of  the  Boston  Advertiser,  and  one 
of  whose  sons  is  the  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  graduate  H.  C.  1839, 
a  pastor  and  editor  in  Boston,  and  a  well-known  author.  Still  a  sixth 
son  of  this  Richard  Hale  and  Elizabeth  Strong  was  Nathan,  a  grad- 
uate Y.  C.  1773,  a  teacher  and  a  captain  in  the  American  War  for 
Independence,  whose  amiable  and  heroic  spirit,  graced  with  Christian 
devotion,  shone  so  lustrously  when  with  needless  cruelty  he  was,  by 
British  military  orders,  executed  T776  as  a  spy.  His  last  words 
were  "I  only  regret  that  I  have  but  one  life  to  lose  for  my  country." 

It  was  this  ninth  son  of  Richard,  David,  brother  of  the  patriotic 
martyr,  that  became  the  fourth  pastor  of  the  Newent  church.  He 
had,  in  connection  with  other  preparation,  probably  studied  for  the 
ministry  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wales,  Professor  of  Theology  in  Yale 
College.     He  was  approved  by  the  New  Haven  Association  1787. 

David  Hale  was  dismissed  at  his  request  on  the  27th  of  April, 
1803.  His  virtues  are  recorded  as  very  many  in  loveliness.  While 
his  pastorate  in  Lisbon  continued  he  conducted  a  boarding  school  in 
his  own  home  with  much  success  as  long  as  his  health  proved  suffi- 
cient. 


His  pastorate  was  given  up  only  after  his  health  failed,  from 
physical  inability.  He  continued  to  live  in  Lisbon  and  owned  a 
house  which  he  built  1795  and  which  afterwards  was  sold  to  the 
Society  for  a  parsonage.  The  price  paid  was  $1,100;  it  is  still 
the  parsonage.  Rev.  Air.  Hale,  after  his  release  from  school  and 
church,  became  a  magistrate  and  a  representative  of  the  town 
of  Lisbon.  In  1806  he  removed  again  to  his  native  town  Coventry, 
and  was  there  made  Deacon  in  the  first  church  and  a  iustice  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 

Judge  Hale,  on  the  19th  of  May,  1790,  married  Lydia  Austin,  of 
New  Haven,  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Austin,  and  the  only  child  of  this 
marriage  was  named  David.  This  David  Hale,  son  of  the  Rev. 
David  Hale,  was  born  in  Lisbon,  25th  April,  1791,  and  died  at  Fred- 
ericksburg, Va.,  20th  of  January,  1849.  He  received  his  education 
at  his  father's  boarding  school  and  otherwise  he  was  trained  to  mer- 
cantile business,  first  in  Coventry  and  subsequently  in  Boston,  in 
which  latter  place  he  became  first  a  merchant  and  later  a  manufac- 
turer. In  these  pursuits  he  had  limited  success ;  from  1827  till  his 
decease  he  was  with  Gerald  Hallock  as  editor  and  founder  of  the 
Journal  of  Commerce,  a  daily  newspaper  in  New  York.  He  wielded 
a  ready  pen,  was  equal  to  the  emergencies  as  they  arose,  etc.  The 
record  here  speaks  much  about  his  benevolence  in  giving  and  doing 
much  good  for  Christian  work.  He  published  a  tract  written  by 
his  pastor,  Rev.  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  entitled  "Mem- 
oirs of  David  Hale."  This  David  Hale,  who  was  born  in  Lisbon, 
married  on  the  18th  of  January,  181 5,  his  cousin  Laura,  born  30th  of 
August,  1789;  she  died  25th  of  July,  1824.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Richard  and  Mary  (Wright)  Hale,  of  Coventry.  He  married  again 
on  the  22d  of  August,  1825,  Lucy  S.  Turner,  from  Boston.  He  had 
by  the  former  wife  two  daughters  and  two  sons  and  by  the  latter 
four  daughters.  His  second  daughter  Lydia  was  born  27th  of  May, 
1818  ;  died  18th  of  October,  1846.  She  had  married,  April  23,  1838, 
T.  T.  Devan,  M.D.,  a  missionary  to  China,  in  which  country  she  died. 
Her  older  sister,  Mary  Hale,  born  March  11,  181 6;  married  May 
27-  :839.  N.  Stickney,  of  Rockville,  Conn.  Richard  Hale,  the 
oldest  son,  born  May  24,  1820;  married  October  28,  1844,  Miss 
Julia  Newlin. 

David  Austin  Hale,  next  son,  born  September  3,  1822;  mar- 
ried September  3,  1849,  Miss  M.  I.  Simonds,  of  Athol,  Mass.  Lucy 
Turner  Hale,  first  daughter  by  second  wife,  born  July  9,  1826;  mar- 
ried, May  20,   1846,  Stephen  Connover,  Jr.,  of  New  York. 

Laura  Hale  born  August  22,  1828,  married  December  21,  1848, 
J.  W.  Camp,  of  New  York. 

Charlotte  Hale,  born  April  6,  1832,  married  Mr.  Charles  B. 
Richardson.  He  is  dead ;  she  resides  at  Wellesley,  Mass.  The 
youngest  daughter,  Martha  Louisa  Hale,  born  August  5,  1834;  died 
January  8,  1836. 

The  Lisbon  first  church  (Newent)  was  gradually  reinforced 
so  long  as  the  pastor  continued  able  for  ministerial  work. 


24 

The  church  next  invited  Mr.  David  B.  Ripley  to  become  its  pas- 
tor 9th  of  December,  1803.  The  Society  on  the  same  day  non-con- 
curred. 


REV.   LEVI   NELSON'S    SETTLEMENT. 

The  church,  September  13,  1804,  unanimously  gave,  and  the 
Society  two  weeks  subsequently  concurred  in  giving,  Mr.  Levi  Nel- 
son an  invitation  to  be  their  pastor  and  minister.  Mr.  Nelson  ac- 
cepted the  invitation.  An  ecclesiastical  council  was  convened  and 
were  satisfied  and  voted  unanimously  to  comply  with  the  desire  of 
the  church  and  Society.  He  was  thereupon  regularly  ordained  pas- 
tor of  the  first  church  in  Lisbon,  December  5,  1804.  Mr.  Nelson 
had  recently  been  engaged  in  missionary  service  under  direction  of 
the  Missionary  Society  of  Massachusetts,  of  which  State  he  was  a 
native.  The  letters  missive  from  the  Lisbon  church  requested  the 
assistance  of  two  churches  in  that  State  at  his  ordination.  The  pas- 
tor and  two  delegates  of  one  of  those  was  present,  together  with 
pastors  and  delegates  from  seven  churches  in  parishes  in  the  vicinity 
of  Lisbon.  It  would  seem  that  the  transactions  of  that  ordination 
day  were  unusually  impressive  to  all  who,  as  actors  or  otherwise, 
were  concerned  in  them.  While  the  members  of  the  council  were 
passing  to  places  reserved  for  them  in  the  congregation  assembled 
the  choir's  jubilant  voices  uttered  in  choral  strain  this  assurance: 

"The   hill    of   Zion   yields 

A  thousand   sacred   sweets 
Before  we  reach  the  heavenly  fields 
Or  walk  the  golden  streets." 

( The  same  hymn  was  sung  again  at  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
Mr.  Nelson's  settlement.)  The  introductory  ordination  prayer  was 
by  Dr.  Samuel  Nott,  of  Franklin,  who,  as  his  historian  says,  at  eight 
years  of  age  a  blacksmith's  apprentice,  at  twelve  an  assistant  in  his 
father's  business  of  tanning  and  shoe-making,  and  at  nineteen  a 
mason,  had  then  been  twenty-two  years  a  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Franklin.  Once  he  barely  escaped  alive  from  fire  when  six  years 
old.  His  remarkable  career  is  well  known  to  all  the  older  people  of 
that  vicinity.  The  writer  very  well  remembers  his  impressive  ap- 
pearance, dressed  in  knee  breeches,  long  black  stockings,  large  silver 
shoe  buckles,  when  in  his  presence  to  be  examined  for  fitness  to  teach 
a  district  school ;  or  when  he  came  to  visit  the  same  school,  and  was 
as  punctual  as  his  large  silver  bull's-eye  watch  would  permit,  to  gov- 
ern the  official  examination.  He  lived  to  almost  one  hundred  and 
his  pastorate  exceeded  seventy  years.  At  Mr.  Nelson's  ordination 
the  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  David  Long,  who,  little  older 
than  the  pastor-elect,  had  then  been  for  three  years  a  pastor  at  Mil- 
ford,  Mass.  The  consecrating  prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  Joel 
Benedict,  who  had  been  a  former  pastor  of  this  church  and  at  this 


25 

time  had  been  pastor  for  twenty  years  at  Plainfield,  where  he  died 
after  a  long  service  in  the  ministry. 

The  laying-on  of  hands  upon  the  head  of  the  candidate  was  by 
Dr.  Benedict,  and  Dr.  Joseph  Strong,  who  had  then  been  pastor  for 
twenty-six  years  of  the  first  church  in  Norwich,  where  his  life  ter- 
minated with  a  pastorate  of  fifty-six  years. 

The  Moderator  of  the  Council,  Dr.  Levi  Hart,  of  Preston,  now 
Griswold,  had  been  settled  there  then  forty-two  years.  His  lift- 
closed  there  with  a  record  of  almost  forty-six  years. 

The  Scribe  of  the  Council,  Dr.  Andrew  Lee,  had  then  been 
pastor  of  the  Hanover  church  thirty-five  years.  His  death  occurred 
there  after  sixty-four  years'  pastorate  over  the  second  church  in 
Lisbon   (  Hanover ) ,  now  Sprague. 

Dr.  Hart,  a  son-in-law  of  the  eminent  Dr.  Bellamy,  gave  the 
charge  to  Air.  Nelson. 

The  right  hand  of  fellowship  was  by  Dr.  Lee.  The  concluding 
prayer  was  by  Dr.  Strong,  of  Norwich,  who,  with  Dr.  Lord,  had  led 
such  a  long  and  useful  life  in  that  vicinity.  It  is  marvelous  to  see 
how  many  of  the  clergymen  settled  in  this  immediate  neighborhood 
wrere  blessed  with  such  long  lives  among  their  people.  Half  century 
celebrations  were  very  common  in  those  early  days — many  times 
the  ministers  preaching  to  an  audience  who  were  wholly  unknown  to 
them  at  the  commencement  of  their  careers. 

Mr.  Nelson's  pastorate  has  been  compared  in  review  to  a  placid 
stream  flowing  smoothly  for  the  most  part.  But  later  on  the  em- 
bargo act  and  the  non-intercourse  acts,  followed  soon  by  war  with 
England,  brought  more  or  less  suffering  to  all  classes  of  rhe  Ameri- 
can people.  The  cost  of  living  was  greatly  increased,  and  Mr.  Nel- 
son became  much  embarrassed,  and  it  looked  to  the  people  of  his 
church  as  if  he  might  have  to  sever  his  relations,  as  it  was  impos- 
sible to  live  on  his  small  salary  unless  supplemented.  Consequently 
the  Society  took  action  in  1812,  May  26th,  to  guard  against  losing 
their  pastor.  A  bank  of  Eleven  Hundred  Dollars  was  made  up  for 
the  express  purpose  of  purchasing  a  parsonage  for  the  use  and  sup- 
port of  gospel  ministers.  To  that  agreement  were  signed  sixty-one 
names  of  persons  who  severally  gave  sums  varying  from  $2  to  $50. 
One  gave  $66,  two  gave  $60,  etc.,  etc.  So  in  181 2,  October  16th,  a 
committee  was  chosen  and  directed  to  purchase  Rev.  Mr.  Nelson's 
farm  and  buildings  to  be  kept  by  the  Society  for  a  parsonage.  This 
contemplated  design  was  carried  out ;  Mr.  Nelson  continued  to  oc- 
cupy the  premises,  and  succeeding'  ministers  have  lived  there  up  to 
the  present  time.  The  house  was  one  built  by  the  Rev.  David  Hale 
in  '795'  and  still  is  the  church  parsonage.  There  was  special  in- 
terest in  religion  in  1810  and  more  converts  made  to  the  church  than 
usual  up  to  1820.  In  1829  to  1831  many  were  hopefully  converted. 
In  1843  occurred  a  gracious  work,  resulting  as  was  estimated  in  near- 
ly one  hundred  conversions.  The  church  so  increased  by  additions 
embraced  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  a  larger  number  than  they 
had  ever  had  before.     Savs  Mr.  Nelson  in  his  half-century  sermon. 


26 


speaking  of  those  great  in-gatherings  to  the  church,  "Oh!  it  seems 
to  me  that,  if  angels  have  any  specially  favorite  seasons  and  places 
on  earth,  they  are  when  and  where  such  scenes  are  transacted."  In 
that  discourse  he  also  said :  "The  church  grew  not  only  in  numbers, 
but  in  influence,  which  is  not  always  seen  in  proportion  to  the  addi- 
tion of  members." 

He  further  says:  "My  observations  have  been  that  revivals  with 
the  least  excitement  are  the  most  strengthening  to  churches.  .  .  . 
It  is  much  better  to  trust  in  the  Lord  and  wait  upon  Him  than  to  de- 
pend upon  signs  either  for  or  against  revivals.     Solomon's  direction 


THE   PARSONAGK. 


is  always  applicable  to  this  subject,  'In  the  morning  sow  thy  seed  and 
in  the  evening  withhold  not  thine  hand ;  for  thou  knowest  not 
whether  shall  prosper  this,  or  that,  or  whether  they  shall  be  both 
alike  good.'  '  In  common  with  other  ministers  and  with  his  own 
parishioners  he  bore  affliction  and  gave,  as  well  as  found,  precious 
sympathy. 

Near  the  beginning  of  his  pastoral  connection  Mr.  Nelson  lost 
his  wife  and  companion,  to  whom  he  was  married  about  a  year  after 
his  ordination.  This  first  wife  was  Miss  Abigail  Tyler,  of  Mendon, 
Mass.,  born  1781,  died  December  20,  1806,  aged  twenty-five  years. 
They  were  married  in  1805.     She  joined  the  Newent  church  (  )ctober 


27 

6th,  1805.  She  left  a  child  horn  on  the  29th  of  September,  1806, 
named  Anna  Tyler,  who  grew  up  to  womanhood  and  married,  the 
29th  of  January,  1826,  David  S.  Nelson,  of  Gloucester,  Ale.,  where 
she  died  in  June  1826.  Both  the  mother  and  the  daughter  had  but 
short  careers  after  they  were  married. 

Mr.  Nelson  married  the  second  time  Mary  Hale,  August  31, 
1809,  then  of  Franklin,  Conn.  She  was  born  23d  November,  1782; 
died  May  2,  1851.  She  was  a  relative  or  niece  of  Rev.  David 
Hale,  who  had  been  the  fourth  pastor  at  Newent.  She  was  the  third 
daughter  of  Joseph  Hale,  an  officer  in  the  American  Revolutionary 
War,  and  of  his  wife  Rebecca,  a  daughter  of  Judge  Joseph  Harris, 
of  New  London,  Conn. 

Mr.  Nelson's  first  wife  had  with  other  qualities  of  excellency 
much  amiability  of  character;  the  second  wife  was  verv  intelligent, 
judicious  and  refined,  most  kind  and  popular  with  all  with  whom 
she  came  in  contact. 

Rev.  Levi  Nelson  was  born  in  Milford,  Mass.,  the  8th  of  Au- 
gust, 1779.  He  died  in  Lisbon  18th  December,  1855,  universally 
lamented  by  the  church  of  whom  he  was  pastor,  as  well  as  all  who 
knew  him  and  his  great  worth. 

The  Lisbon  first  church  experienced  a  great  loss  not  only  in 
their  pastor's  death  ;  but  within  a  few  weeks  prior  they  had  lost  two 
principal  officers  of  the  church  in  the  deaths  of  Deacon  Tracy  and 
Deacon  Reuben  Bishop. 

Levi  Nelson  was  the  youngest  of  the  eleven  children  of  Mr. 
Seth  and  Mrs.  Silence  (Cheney)  Nelson.  Seth,  a  brother  of  Levi, 
was  the  father  of  Rev.  Henry  Nelson,  formerly  of  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Another  nephew  of  Levi  Nelson  was  Rev.  John  Nelson,  D.D.,  grad- 
uate W.  C.  1807,  a  trustee  of  W.  C.  1826-33;  ordained  pastor  at 
Leicester,  Mass.,  1812,  and  continued  in  that  pastoral  relation  till  his 
death,  1872. 

Mr.  Levi  Nelson,  owing  to  a  failure  of  his  health  when  pursuing 
his  college  education,  did  not  attain  to  graduation.  But  Williams 
College,  where  he  had  been  enrolled,  gave  him  in  181  o  the  honorary 
degree  of  A.M.  He  had  obtained  theological  instruction  from  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Emmons,  D.D.,  of  Franklin,  Mass.,  and  received  a  com- 
mission from  a  Massachusetts  society  to  take  up  missionary  work, 
which  he  did  in  New  York  for  a  part  of  the  year  1803.  Early  in 
1804  his  labors  in  Lisbon  commenced.  They  were  dissolved  by  his 
death,  as  has  been  stated,  18th  December,  1855.  At  his  funeral  a 
sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Roswell  Whitmore,  of  Dayville,  and 
an  address  was  made  by  Rev.  John  P.  Gulliver,  D.D.,  of  Norwich. 
Both  the  sermon  and  the  address  were  requested  for  publication, 
but  were  never  published.  Those  persons  who  knew  Mr.  Nelson 
as  their  pastor  will  ever  retain  a  high  respect  and  regard  for  his 
habitual  kindness  and  love  and  counsel  to  them,  which  will  ever  be 
held  in  high  esteem  as  long  as  life  and  memory  last.  A  memorial 
gift  of  a  pulpit  has  been  recently  presented  to  Lisbon  church  in  honor 
of  Rev.  Levi  and  Marv  Nelson. 


28 


KEV.    LEVI    AND    MARY    NELSON. 

A  summary  review  of  these  five  pastors  in  the  Newent  church, 
covering  a  little  over  one  hundred  years,  appears  as  follows : 

Rev.  Mr.  Kirkland from  1723  to  1753 

Rev.  Mr.  Peter  Powers r756    "   1770 

Rev.  Mr.  Joel  Benedict "      1770    "    1782 

Rev.  Mr.  David  Hale "      1789    "   1803 

Rev.  Mr.  Levi  Nelson "      1804    "   1855 

( )f  the  four  pastors  that  preceded  Mr.  Nelson  in  Newent,  the 
historian  of  Norwich  testifies,  they  were  all  men  of  more  than  com- 
mon attainments  and  each  was  distinguished  by  peculiar  and  prom- 
inent traits.  A  general  statement  might,  with  probable  accuracy, 
present  them  briefly,  thus  :; — Kirkland,  ardent,  earnest,  sensitive,  sin- 
cere : — Powers,  with  plainness  of  speech,  shrewd,  and  strenuous, 
with  robust  energy : — Benedict,  accurate,  firm,  substantial,  well 
poised,  well  controlled,  and  controlling  those  about  him: — Hale,  with 
executive  ability,  planning  well,  scholarly  and  tasteful,  followed 
by  Nelson,  affectionate,  pure-minded,  less  showy  than  solid,  but 
tenacious : — then  Lee,  of  the  Hanover  church,  Lisbon,  had  his  strong 
influence,  who  was  bold  in  thinking,  lenient  towards  others  in  opin- 
ion, resolute  and  vigorous  in  deeds,  and  with  these  six  strong  men 
add  Dr.  Perkins  (the  elder),  Lisbon's  physician,  a  Deacon  of  the 
Newent  church  nearly  forty  years,  who  was  enterprising,  decisive, 
practical,  and  wise.  Of  these  seven  persons  six  were  in  the  Newent 
church.  The  first  was  in  public  life  here  thirty  years,  the  three 
next  following  respectively  fourteen,  twelve,  and  fourteen  years,  and 
the  fifth,  fifty-one  years;  the  sixth,  sixtv-four  years,  and  the  seventh. 


20 


sixty-five  or  sixty-six  years,  and  all  before  entering  office  had  been 
trained  at  the  ablest  of  the  New  England  educational  institutions, 
and  were  a  great  power  in  this  community. 

In  the  year  next  after  Mr.  Nelson's  death,  the  Rev.  Mr.  David 
Breed  supplied  for  a  while,  and  near  the  close  of  1856  he  was  invited 
and  was  installed  the  sixth  pastor  of  the  church,  17th  February, 
1857.  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Wolcott,  father  of  ex-U.  S.  senator  of  Col- 
orado, and  pastor  of  the  High  Street  Church  in  Providence,  R.  I., 
preached  the  sermon  on  that  occasion.  Mr.  Breed,  in  compliance 
with  his  request,  was  regularly  dismissed  from  his  pastorate  in 
Lisbon  November  30th,  1861.  Subsequently  Rev.  Lewis  Jessop 
ministered  from  1862  to  1866. 

Rev.  Simon  Waters  from  1866- 1867.  His  death  closed  his  con- 
nection here  in  1867. 

Rev.  John  Haskell  from  1867  to  1871. 

Rev.  Richard  Manning  Chipman  from  July,  1871,  to  March 
31st,   1879. 

Rev.  Josiah  Green  Willis,  1880  to  November  nth,   1882. 

Rev.  John  B.  Griswold,  1882  to  April  1st,  1886. 

Rev.  Ouincy  M.  Bosworth,  July,   1886,  to  July  1898. 

Rev.  Edwin  Bradford  Robinson,  November  1st,  1898,  to  March, 
1901. 

Rev.  Tyler  Eddy  Gale  has  been  engaged  to  supply  since  May 
22,   1902. 


SCHOOLHOUSE   OF   DISTRICT    NO.   I,   ON    THE   CHURCH    GREEN. 


THE   CHURCH    IN    SUMMER. 

One  devoted  family  to  the  Newent  Lisbon  Church  deserves  a  passing 
notice  for  their  loyalty  to  its  prosperity  and  maintenance,  having  been  church- 
goers here  for  three  or  four  generations.  The  Baldwins,  although  non- 
residents of  Lisbon,  living  just  over  its  border  line  in  South  Canterbury, 
have  had  some  connection  with  the  Newent  Church  ever  since  the  Rev. 
Peter  Powers  on  February  10,  1761,  married  their  grandmother  to  her  first  hus- 
band, Reuben  Bishop.  Mrs.  Bishop  married  a  second  tinr*  Capt.  Benjamin 
Burnham,  and  their  daughter,  Hannah  Burnham,  married  Dr.  Elijah  Bald- 
win, Sr.  This  family  has  had  among  its  members  a  practicing  physician 
for  nearly  a  hundred  years.  Miss  Helen  Baldwin,  M.D.,  now  practicing  in 
New  York  City,  is  a  great-grandchild  of  above  Mrs.  Burnham,  and  is  held  in 
high  esteem  by  her  professional  brethren. 


While  no  village  or  dwellings  surrounded  the  Newent  church, 
she  has  had  immediately  opposite  her  frontage  a  pleasant  old  home- 
stead, which  for  a  long  period  has  extended  a  welcome  to  her  wor- 
shippers, where  at  the  intermission  between  services  on  Sundays  the 
ladies  were  inclined  to  drop  in  and  speak  of  town  topics. 

Directly  between  this  residence,  owned  by  the  late  Tyler  Brown, 
and  the  church  can  be  seen  the  stone  whipping-post,  which  serves 
more  in  these  latter  days  to  post  town  notices  and  society  meetings 
than  for  holding  criminals  for  punishment.  Mr.  Tyler  Brown 
formerly  kept  a  store,  which  later  on  was  used  as  a  conference 
house,  and  which  now  is  Lisbon's  Town  House.  This  Mr. 
Brown   was  the  father  of  George   M.   Brown,  a  prominent   lawyer 


3' 

and  well-known  citizen  of  Boston,  who  spent  about  fifty  years  of  his 
life  there  and  was  highly  esteemed  by  those  who  knew  him.  His 
brother,  the  late  Daniel  M.  Brown,  was  a  life-long  fanner  in  Lisbon, 
living  at  their  old  homestead,  and  he  has  left  an  only  son,  a  physician 
now  practising  his  profession  successfully  at  Norwich.  The  mother, 
Airs.  Daniel  M.  Brown,  dwelling  at  this  old  home,  which  has  stood 
so  intimately  connected  with  Lisbon's  center  so  many  generations, 
still  has  a  friendly  interest  in  town  affairs  and  in  the  church's 
welfare. 


REMINISCENCE. 


A  little  reminiscence  connected  with  the  writer's  life  he  is 
tempted  to  give,  showing  that  eighty  years  ago  this  present  summer 
thf  schools  of  Lisbon  were  not  wholly  destitute  of  athletic  contests 
to  develop  physical  culture  among  her  children. 

In  1823  the  brick  schoolhouse  of  the  second  district  was  being 
built  by  Mr.  Elijah  Rathbun,  Sr.,  and  it  was  completed  that  fall, 
when  my  father,  Reuben  Bishop,  taught  the  first  winter's  school 
in  that  edifice  in  1823  and  1824.  While  this  brick  schoolhouse  was 
being  erected  and  no  suitable  room  to  be  had  for  a  summer  school, 
I  was  sent  a  mile  and  a  half  from  home  to  the  central  district.  This 
was  no  joke  for  a  three-year-old  kid,  even  if  he  was  big  enough  to 
go  barefooted.  My  recollection  is  very  vivid  of  things  that  took 
place  that  summer  in  an  athletic  strife  in  which  I  endeavored  to 
show  the  late  Daniel  M.  Brown  that  I  was  the  best  man  in  physical 
culture,  and  got  flogged.  It  didn't  trouble  me  that  he  was  a  year 
older  than  myself,  but  I  thought  he  took  advantage  of  my  long 
walk,  and,  being  tired,  in  accepting  the  challenge.  The  teacher.  Miss 
Lucy  Stevens,  tried  to  comfort  and  console  me  by  telling  me  "Daniel 
was  a  bad  boy,  and  I  had  better  not  play  or  fight  with  him  any  more." 
There  was  no  further  strife  for  the  championship  that  summer.  I 
followed  the  instruction  of  the  schoolma'am  and  held  athletic  sports 
at  a  discount  while  I  attended  her  school. 


The  first  church  was  built  as  described  and  in  the  locality  named 
while  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kirkland  was  pastor,  about  1723.  It  was  used  a 
little  less  than  fifty  years.  The  second  church  was  built  under  the 
supervision  of  Mr.  Ebenezer  Tracy,  architect  and  builder,  while  the 
Rev.  Joel  Benedict  was  the  pastor.  It  served  almost  ninety  years, 
when  it  was  taken  down,  much  to  the  disappointment  of  many  per- 
sons who  had  a  great  reverence  for  its  sacred  walls.  Its  high  tower 
and  bell,  its  pews  and  high  pulpit,  its  sounding  board,  its  broad  aisle 
and  deacon's  seat,  were  all  impressive  and  much  revered.  Had  the 
old  church  been  preserved  Lisbon  would  now  have  had  one  of  the 
most  interesting  churches  in  the  State.     When  first  built  it  had  no 


32 

steeple  or  tower,  neither  a  bell  to  call  its  worshippers  to  service.  It 
might  have  been  the  custom  here,  as  in  many  other  places  at  that 
early  period,  to  assemble  at  the  call  of  a  drum,  or  a  bugle,  or  horn 
blowing.  First  it  was  furnished  only  with  benches,  which  after- 
wards were  replaced  with  square  pews.  Large  enclosures  made  of 
high  wainscoted  walls,  against  the  sides  of  which  seats  were  ranged 
and  within  which  were  frequently  two  or  three  chairs.  At  the  base 
of  the  pulpit  was  a  narrow  pew  called  the  deacon's  seat.  The  pulpit 
of  the  oldest  church  of  Xewent  had  a  cushion  which  when  the  second 
church  was  built  temporarily  was  used  to  indicate  their  respect  for 
it.  For  the  last  fifty  years  of  this  second  church's  use  it  had  been 
made  more  comely  by  the  building  of  a  tower  and  steeple  and  by 
hanging  a  suitable  bell  which  was  given  to  the  Society  by  Captain 
Andrew  Clark.  The  sounding  board  above  the  pulpit  always  seem- 
ed to  represent  to  me  a  gigantic  turnip  hung  up  by  the  tip  of  the  root 
to  the  ceiling  and  was  something  like  an  umbrella  over  the  head  of 
the  minister.  There  was  a  sacrament-table  affixed  to  the  deacon's 
seat  which  could  readily  be  adjusted  in  its  place  for  communion 
service. 

I  can  well  remember  the  toot  from  the  chorister's  pitch  pipe, 
which  gave  the  keynote  for  the  tune  to  be  sung,  as  well  as  after- 
wards the  sound  of  the  bass  viol  when  it  succeeded  the  pitch  pipe. 
The  front  of  the  second  church  was  towards  the  west.     On  its  lowest 


THE   CHURCH    IN    WINTER, 


S3 

floor  in  the  corners  northwest  and  southwest  were  flights  of  stairs 
to  the  galleries  and  all  around  were  roomy  side  pews  (fourteen  of 
them)  topped  with  a  bobbin  balustrade  made  over  high  panelled  par- 
titions. The  central  space  inside  of  the  wall  pews,  after  containing 
only  benches  for  several  years,  was  furnished  with  two  blocks  of  bod}' 
pews,  in  each  block  eight  so  arranged  that  between  these  blocks  and 
the  wall  pews  a  passageway  was  left ;  and  from  the  main  entrance 
to  the  pulpit  a  wider  passageway,  distinctively  termed  the  broad 
aisle.  In  this  description  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  galleries 
on  the  south  side  were  for  females,  with  a  colored  pew  (so-called) 
over  the  stairs  in  the  corner  for  colored  females  ;  while  in  the  north 
gallery  were  only  men  to  be  seen,  with  a  corresponding  pew  for  col- 
ored male  in  its  corner.  Who  that  ever  saw  the  pulpit  desk  uphol- 
stered in  a  faded  pink  silk  fabric,  with  long  graceful  tasselled  fringe, 
can  ever  forget  its  rich  and  appropriate  furnishings? 

It  was  the  general  custom  of  the  period  to  have  a  tithing  man, 
legally  appointed,  to  look  after  disorderly  boys  and  to  be  a  terror 
to  evil  doers.  The  writer  well  remembers  his  great  embarrassment 
and  mortification,  now  more  than  seventy  years  since,  when  frol- 
icking and  laughing,  with  some  of  his  youthful  companions,  in  a 
large  corner  pew  of  the  gallery ;  whereupon  Squire  Levi  Corning, 
a  magistrate  and  tithing  man,  stood  up,  with  his  tall  imposing  figure, 
using  his  clenched  fist  to  pound  upon  the  top  of  his  pew  and  then 
stretching  out  his  long  index  finger,  he  pointed  to  us,  saying,  "Those 
boys  must  not  disturb  these  services." 


The  third  church,  which  is  now  standing,  was  built  in  1858  on 
the  site  of  the  second  church.  The  first  step  taken  towards  erecting 
it  was  on  April  the  8th,  1853.  After  considering  all  the  matters 
involved  it  was  decided  to  build.  And  this  resolution  was  adopted 
January  the  9th,  1858 :  That  committee  should  be  appointed  to  pre- 
pare for  and  to  superintend  the  construction  of  a  church. 

The  committee  consisted  of  Edmund  F.  Tracy,  Daniel  M. 
Brown,  and  William  A.  Johnson,  and  they  were  "instructed  to  build 
a  new  meeting-house,  the  proportion  and  cost  to  be  determined  by 
themselves,"  and  Mr.  Eleazer  Bushnell,  who  had  "taken  unwearied 
pains  to  obtain  subscription  of  funds  for  building,"  and  who  had 
been  (unexpectedly)  successful  "in  the  endeavor,"  received  the  So- 
ciety's "unanimous  thanks  for  his  persevering  and  meritorious  ser- 
vice." On  January  16th,  1858,  a  resolution  was  adopted  "that  the 
front  of  the  new  meeting-house  should  stand  where  the  front  of  the 
old  one  now  stands."  In  prosecuting  the  work  assigned  the  build- 
ing committee  made  much  dispatch,  and  they  reported  the  work  com- 
pleted and  received  honorable  discharge  September  9th.  1858,  and 
the  society  "voted  to  obtain  funds  to  complete  the  payment  of  the 
expenses  incurred." 


34 

The  congregation,  while  the  edifice  was  in  process  of  construc- 
tion, assembled  for  their  worship  in  the  conference-house  which  the 
society  had  owned  since  1847 — ancl  which  by  a  purchase  from  the 
society  had  been  the  town-house  of  Lisbon  since  1867.  An  assem- 
blage of  Christian  worshippers  was  gathered  in  the  new  structure 
for  the  first  service  September  15,  1858,  and  by  an  appropriate 
religious  service  it  was  dedicated  to  God. 

List  of  Deacons  of  the  Church  of  Newent,  with  the  Dates 
of  Their  Services. 

Joseph   Perkins from  1723  to  1726 

Samuel  Lothrop 1723  "  l755 

Jabez   Perkins "  1726  "  1742 

Isaac  Lawrence "  1742  "  1756 

Jacob  Perkins "  1756  "  1776                 , 

Joseph    Perkins "  1756  "  1794 

!         Andrew    Tracy "  1756  "  1807 

Ebenezer   Tracy "  1795  "  1803                 i 

Jedediah    Safford "  1804  "  1822 

William   Adams "  1809  "  1835 

Levy  Crosby 1822  "  1831 

Freeman  Tracy "  1834  "  1855 

Reuben    Bishop "  1835  "  J855 

Elisha   Paine   Potter "  1851  "  1858 

Elias   Bishop "  1855  "  1868 

Resigned   1869. 

Jedediah   Lovett "  1861  " 

Jeremiah  K.  Adams 1887  '  1893 

George   Robinson 1887  '  1898 

Henry  P.  Bushnell "  1893  " 

Edward  C.  Strong "  1898  " 

Before  the  Xewent  Society  was  divided  more  than  one  effort 
was  made  for  its  division.  A  memorial  was  made  and  addressed  to 
the  General  Assembly  and  signed  by  sixteen  inhabitants  of  Newent, 
with  fourteen  signers  of  the  second  church,  and  ten  of  the  first  so- 
ciety of  Norwich,  in  May,  1745,  making  complaints  of  the  distance 
and  other  extraordinary  difficulties  which  rendered  a  division  de- 
sirable. Newent  Society  presented  by  its  agent  a  remonstrance  to 
this  request,  and  the  Assembly  did  not  grant  the  privilege. 

Fifteen  years  afterwards  another  petition,  made  by  forty-three 
persons,  was  presented  to  the  General  Assembly  on  May,  1760,  stat- 
ing that  too  great  a  distance  was  inconvenient,  and  the  increased 
numbers  at  Newent  rendered  the  meeting-house  too  small  to  accom- 
modate the  people  that  might  wish  to  attend  worship  there.  Again 
Newent  parish  voted  to  oppose  the  petition  of  Capt.  John  Perkins 
and  others  for  a  new  ecclesiastical  society,  and  voted  to  choose  an 


35 

agent  to  attend  the  General  Assembly  to  oppose  their  petition  there ; 
and  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  was  not  granted  until  the  following 
year,  May,  176 1 ,  when  the  seventh  Society  of  Norwich  was  estab- 
lished and  denominated  "Hanover,"  as  a  compliment  to  George 
Guelph,  who  in  1760  became  George  the  Third,  King  of  Great 
Britain,  as  well  as  the  Electoral  Prince  of  Hanover,  Germany.  This 
new  Hanover  Society,  before  it  was  incorporated,  raised  by  sub- 
scription £1,400  for  the  support  of  the  gospel  ministry.  Its  first 
edifice  for  public  worship  was  ready  as  early  as  1766  and  the  church 
was  constituted  with  a  membership  of  fourteen,  and  with  one  excep- 
tion all  had  been  members  of  the  Newent  church. 


CHAPTER   II. 

HANOVER  PARISH. 
Established  in  1 761  -1766. 

Messrs.  Timothy  Stone,  Theodore  Hinsdale,  Panderson  Aus- 
tin, and  others,  supplied  the  preaching,  and  two  of  those  mentioned 
received  and  declined  calls  to  settle  as  pastors.  In  1768,  August 
31st,  the  church  voted  to  invite  Mr.  Andrew  Lee  to  settle  with 
them  as  their  minister.  Mr.  Lee  on  October  1st,  1768,  having  re- 
plied affirmatively,  was  taken  into  the  church  as  a  member  on  the 
25th  of  October,  1768,  and  on  the  following  day  was  ordained  as 
their  pastor,  which  relation  was  not  dissolved  till  his  death  on  the 
23d  of  August,  1832.  This  long  pastorate  of  Dr.  Lee  in  Hanover 
extended  almost  sixty-four  years.  In  a  confession  of  faith  of  this 
church  on  May  2d,  1787,  they  adopted  nearly  the  same  as  that  of 
the  Newent  church,  although  there  had  been  all  along  some  divergent 
views  in  regard  to  covenants,  which  were  binding  in  holding  persons 
baptized  in  infancy  on  church  rolls,  etc.,  etc.  Whether  Dr.  Lee  was 
at  first  (as  some  suspected)  lax  in  respect  to  theology,  Rev.  Levi 
Nelson,  with  good  reason,  said  of  him,  1849:  "He  left  behind  him, 
when  he  had  finished  his  labors,  a  united  orthodox  church." 

During  the  four  or  five  years  preceding  Dr.  Lee's  decease  minis- 
terial aid  was  afforded  him  by  Rev.  Henry  Perkins,  Rev.  Daniel 
Hemingway,  Mr.  James  Anderson,  and  Rev.  Jonathan  Cone. 
The  said  Mr.  Perkins  and  Mr.  Anderson  received  each,  in  1828.  a 
call  to  become  colleague  pastors,  but  neither  became  such.  Mr.  Cone, 
in  1829,  was  called  with  like  result. 

Mr.  Barnabas  Phiney,  in  compliance  with  an  invitation  which 
the  church  had  unanimously  given  him,  became  by  regular  ordination 
associate-pastor  in  February,  1830.  And  he  retired  November, 
1832. 

Rev.  Philo  Judson  was  installed  pastor  June,  1833,  and  retired 
July,  1834.  Rev.  Joseph  Aver  was  pastor  from  September,  1837, 
to  June,  1848,  and  the  Rev.  James  A.  Hazen  from  December,  1852. 
until  he  died  on  the  29th  October,  1862.  Between  the  pastorate  of 
Mr.  Judson  and  that  of  Mr.  Ayer,  Rev.  Daniel  Waldo  and  Edward 
Cleveland  supplied  the  service,  and  between  Mr.  Ayer's  and  Mr. 
Hazen's  terms  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  W.  Robinson  officiated. 


37 

LIST  OF  CHURCH  DEACONS  OF  HANOVER. 

Before  Hanover  was  separated  from  Lisbon  the  Deacon's  names 
and  terms  were  as  follows  : 

Joseph  Bushnell from   1769  to  1791 

Nathan  Bushnell "      1769  "    1791 

Reuben    Peck "       1791  "    1806 

Asa  Witter "      1791  "    1793 

David  Knight,  Jr "       1793  "    1796 

Nathan  Lord "      1796  "    1819 

Barnabas  Huntington   "       1806  "    1830 

Ebenezer   Allen    "      1819 

William  Lee   "      1830 


AN  HISTORICAL  ADDRESS 
Of  125th  Anniversary  of  the  Hanover  Church,   1891. 

An  address  before  the  Hanover  Congregational  Church  cover- 
ing a  period  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  from  its  beginning 
in  1766  to  189 1,  has  been  pubished  by  the  Bulletin  Company  of 
Norwich,  Conn. 

Of  this  interesting  and  full  historical  account  by  the  Rev.  L. 
H.  Higgins  (the  pastor,  in  1891,  when  the  celebration  took  place), 
I  cannot  speak  too  highly.  Its  completeness  for  the  Hanover 
Church-History  is  so  well  established  that  no  historical  scholar  need 
expect  to  add  much  to,  or  improve  upon  it.  It  is  the  best  record  to 
be  found  in  print,  not  only  of  the  church,  but  of  the  town's  history. 

In  the  year  1843  two  Methodist  Societies  were  gathered  within 
the  boundaries  of  Lisbon.  Those  Societies  were  not  of  long  duration 
and  did  not  make  a  very  marked  history  in  the  town,  and  not  many 
facts  concerning  them  are  now  obtainable. 

After  Hanover  was  divided  from  Newent  these  two  Methodist 
Societies  and  six  other  parishes  remained  parochially  within  Nor- 
wich, and  territorially  were  constituted  parts  of  its  township  twen- 
ty-five years  longer,  and  thus  Norwich,  as  to  municipal  concerns, 
continued  so  much  longer  a  unit.  Had  her  attempt  made  in  1745 
to  divide  Newent  been  successful  she  could  not  have  so  long  main- 
tained so  broad  a  territory.  The  inhabitants  of  Norwich  had  gained 
great  advantages  by  partitioning  its  township  into  eight  parishes, 
and  keeping  them  under  her  own  supervision  for  a  long  while.  The 
civil  interests  and  obligations  of  these  parishes  were  still  inconven- 
ient to  them  in  distances  to  travel  to  the  town  centre,  where  increas- 
ing population  had  demanded  and  obtained  more  frequent  town- 
meetings,  to  meet  the  urgent  necessities  of  the  people,  and  had  to  be 
borne  for  twenty  years  or  more.     The  colonial  Legislature  repeatedlv 


3« 

denied  all  requests  for  division  into  different  townships,  till  Norwich 
with  one  dissenting  voice  agreed  that  three  of  the  parishes  lying 
north  and  east  might  be  made  into  one  new  town,  and  with 
one  dissenting  voice  only,  agreed  that  two  of  the  parishes,  with 
part  of  another,  lying  north  and  east,  might  be  made  into  another 
new  town.  Two  memorials  were  presented  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly asking  it  to  carry  into  effect  that  design,  and  the  result  was  that 
the  Assembly  in  1786,  instead  of  making  from  Norwich  two  new 
towns,  made  three — namely,  Bozrah,  Franklin,  and  Lisbon  (except 
that  part  of  Preston,  which  afterwards  became  Griswold,  was  not 
included  in  the  act  incorporating  Lisbon).  The  joint  petition  of 
Newent  and  Hanover  was  granted,  and  these  two  parishes  remained 
together,  each  forming  a  part  of  Lisbon's  township  seventy-five  years 
— till  1861 — when  Lisbon,  in  turn,  itself  was  divided.  At  this  time 
Norwich  had  been  in  existence  as  a  town  two  hundred  years,  Newent 
as  a  parish  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Hanover  just 
about  one  hundred  years  after  it  had  been  made  a  parish  became 
in  1 86 1  a  portion  of  a  new  town  called  Sprague,  and  from  that  date 
(1861)  we  do  not  connect  its  history  longer  as  properly  belonging  to 
the  town  of  Lisbon  ;  although  the  social  bond  was  not  severed,  the 
people  cherished  kindly  a  great  interest  in  each  other's  welfare,  and 
they  really  feel  that  they  are  yet,  as  one  people,  not  separated,  though 
represented  in  two  townships. 


CHAPTER    III. 

LISBON. 
Its  History  from  1786. 

This  Connecticut  Lisbon  was  doubtless  named  after  Lisbon  in 
Portugal,  from  the  fact  that  Hezekiah  Perkins  and  Jabez  Perkins, 
and  other  commercial  shippers  traded  from  Norwich  with  Lisbon  in 
Southern  Europe  and  that  probably  suggested  this  name. 

Among  the  names  of  those  that  came  early  to  Norwich  (the 
Newent-Lisbon  territory)  from  Ipswich,  Mass.,  who  became  prom- 
inent in  the  early  settlement  of  this  part  of  Connecticut  were  the 
Bishops,  Burnhams,  Kinsmans,  Saffords,  Stevens,  and  many  more 
quite  as  important,  and  later  on  they  were  reinforced  by  the  Potters, 
Comings,  Lovetts,  Aliens,  Crosbys,  Whittakers,  Rathbuns,  Brom- 
leys,  and  Bottoms.  These  were  all  energetic,  hard-working  men 
who  subdued  a  wild  tract  of  land  and  made  it  ready  to  cultivate 
crops  for  maintaining  their  families. 

Says  Rev.  Mr.  Chipman,  in  looking  up  their  history  after 
wood  had  become  valuable  and  when  they  no  longer  had  to  burn  it  up 
to  get  it  out  of  the  way :  They  found  a  good  market  value  for  wood 
if  it  could  be  hauled  four  or  five  miles.  And  he  cites  the  example 
of  James  Burnham  in  1774.  who  had  "in  twenty  years  hauled  twenty- 
five  hundred  loads  of  wood,  mostly  cut  by  himself  and  without  ac- 
cident of  any  kind,  to  a  market  five  miles  distant,  for  which  he  re- 
ceived $1,100.  The  same  man  had  expended  five  hundred  days' 
labor  in  subduing  and  fencing  two  acres  of  land  ;  built  with  his 
own  hands  four  hundred  rods  of  stone  fence,  supplied  himself  with  a 
new  house,  commodious  and  well  furnished  to  fill  the  place  of  one 
with  its  contents  destroyed  by  fire.  Given  to  the  town  for  a  highway 
one  hundred  rods  of  land,  erected  a  school  house  and  painted  it,  and 
presented  it  to  his  school  district,  and  for  several  years,  without 
charge,  furnished  most  of  the  fuel  to  warm  it."  He  was  born  in 
Lisbon  and  is  a  good  type  of  what  a  Lisbon  man  can  do.  Many 
still  living  will  recall,  as  the  writer  can,  these  old  farmers  clad  in 
their  leather  aprons  or  sheepskin,  tanned  pliable  to  protect  their 
homespun  garments. 

"The  viands  accompanying  the  cider  (of  the  olden  time)  were 
sweet,  well-grown  Indian  corn,  beans  made  savory  by  well-fattened 
pork,  well  cooked  in  great  brick  ovens"  which  the  wives  of  those 
earlv  settlers  knew  how  to  serve  in  a  most  appetizing  manner.  The 
fathers  and  the  mothers  were  vigorous  thinkers  and  co-operated  with 
their  early  pastois  in  aiding  their  children  to  become  "like  unto 
their  fathers,  men  of  solid  character."     Lisbon's  children  have  been 


40 

able  by  their  schools  and  their  superior  teachers,  and  the  private 
teaching  of  their  pastors,  to  inspire  the  youth  of  both  sexes  in  long- 
ings for  knowledge,  and  the  ability  to  get  it  and  apply  it  to  them- 
selves. In  illustration  of  this  fact  we  have  only  to  look  at  the 
long  roll  or  record  of  men,  born  and  raised  in  Lisbon,  who  have 
emigrated  to  other  parts  of  the  country  and  become  eminent  in  all 
the  professions,  as  well  as  the  other  walks  of  life. 

The  longevity  of  Lisbon  people  has  become  proverbial.  Over 
thirty  persons  can  be  recalled  who  have  lived  over  ninety  years,  and 
quite  a  number  have  exceeded  a  hundred  years.  One  of  the  men 
born  early  in  Lisbon,  the  third  Jabez  Perkins  (the  father  of 
Erastus  Perkins),  died  in  1853,  aged  almost  one  hundred  and 
two  years.  Many  more  instances  of  those  very  aged  could  be  cited 
as  having  been  born,  lived,  and  died  in  Lisbon's  present  territory. 

Connecticut  in  1784  decreed  that  every  slave  child  born  after 
October  in  that  year  should  become  free  on  attaining  twenty-five 
years  of  age.  The  records  of  Lisbon  present  an  entry  made  in  1789 
of  the  birth  of  a  slave  and  the  name  of  the  owner,  which  entry  was 
made  to  make  sure  to  that  child  the  freedom  of  that  act. 

From  that  period  onward  there  was  continued  an  increasing  op- 
position to  slavery  in  the  State,  advancing  and  hastening  that  great 
strife  which  was  to  come,  and  which  should  forever  wipe  out  the 
system  of  bondage  in  our  land.  In  one  modest,  humble  home  of 
Lisbon  there  lived  a  family  of  the  name  of  Stevens,  whose  son,  named 
Aaron  Dwight  Stevens,  had  such  an  aversion  to  slavery  that  he  lost 
his  life  in  joining  with  another  native  of  Connecticut  in  hostile  ef- 
forts, well  meant  but  ill-advised,  against  American  slavery,  and 
came  to  his  death,  as  the  other  man  John  Brown  did,  near  Harper's 
Ferry  in  1859. 

Lisbon  was  ever  ready  to  take  a  share  in  her  country's  strifes  in 
warfare  in  1812-15  as  well  as  in  the  Great  Rebellion.  We  shall  en- 
deavor to  give  a  list  of  some  of  their  names  further  on. 

Lisbon's  inhabitants  were  mostly  farmers  in  good  circumstances 
who  have  always  been  substantially  mindful  of  the  claims  of  man- 
kind upon  them  in  all  emergencies  throughout  their  whole  history. 
They  recognized  that  pauperism  was  from  general  shiftlessness  or 
from  excessive  dissipation,  and  there  was  very  little  sympathy  with 
those  addicted  to  such  habits ;  hence  scarcely  any  who  ever  needed  to 
appeal  to  the  town  authorities  for  aid  were  found  among  her  resi- 
dents. Suits  at  la  *•  for  crime  were  almost  unknown — no  man  born 
in  Lisbon  has  been  known  to  deserve  a  felon's  doom. 

While  Lisbon  has  not  failed  to  furnish  not  a  few  persons  who 
have  entered  the  various  professions,  and  followed  the  various  me- 
chanical arts,  she  herself  has  but  few  following  those  trades  and  arts 
among  her  present  population.  They  have  had  to  seek  other  fields 
to  follow  their  calling  with  any  success.  While  Lisbon  hardly  sup- 
ports a  doctor  or  a  lawyer,  or  maintains  a  post-office  centre,  or  mer- 
chant store,  for  the  convenience  of  her  people,  she  still  is  not  very 
remote  from  these  desirable  conveniences. 


4» 

Lisbon  has  had  two  turnpike  roads  running  through  her  terri- 
tory from  north  to  south  constructed  by  incorporated  companies, 
which  had  toll  gates  for  gathering  money  of  all  travelers  to  pay 
cost  of  construction  and  repairs.  At  the  beginning  of  the  latter 
part  of  the  last  century  the  toll  gates  were  abolished  and  the  roads 
abandoned  to  the  town  for  care  and  maintenance.  One  of  these 
turnpikes  was  from  Norwich  Town  over  Lovett's  Bridge  north  to 
Canterbury  and  Brooklyn,  the  other  starting  from  Norwich  Landing 
crossed  Lathrop's  Bridge  (near  Tunnel  Hill),  kept  on  a  parallel  line 
with  the  Quinabaug  River,  and  crossed  it  at  the  Jewett  City  Bridge: 
thus  proceeding  northward  and  eastward  through  Plainfield  to 
Boston  and  Providence.  Both  these  turnpikes  maintained  stage 
lines  carrying  United  States  mails  and  passengers,  which  daily 
brought  to  these  farmers  and  their  families  a  close  touch  of  outside 
life. 


U.   S.     MAIL    BETWEEN    NEW    YORK    AND    BOSTON. 


Lisbon  has  now  two  railroads  passing  through  her  territory, 
one  of  which  gives  her  a  station  recently  denominated  Lisbon ;  an- 
other station  called  Versailles,  on  the  same  railroad,  is  situated  be- 
tween Lisbon  and  Sprague.  Still  another  station,  on  the  Norwich 
and  Worcester  Railroad  at  Jewett  City,  is  very  close  to  her  eastern 
border  and  much  used  by  all  residents  of  Lisbon. 

By  a  recent  aid  of  a  Free  Rural  Delivery,  No.  4,  from  Norwich, 
Lisbon  gets  a  daily  service  by  the  Postal  System.  All  of  which  is 
duly  appreciated,  and  perhaps  in  no  very  distant  day  may  be  supple- 
mented by  a  trolley  line,  which  now  is  much  needed. 

Lisbon's  misfortunes  have  been  not  to  have  a  central  growth, 
"a  pivotal  point"  ;  her  situation  has  been  by  the  side  of  two  consider- 
able rivers,  furnishing  very  fine  water-powers,  but  when  developed 
they  have  increased  her  population  upon  her  outer  borders,  and  have 
been  grasped  away  from  her  to  increase  and  enhance  other  new 
towns,  when  she  should  have  got  more  benefit  from  them.  The  old 
residents  of  Lisbon  used  to  complain  that  their  taxes  were  made  too 


42 

high  in  support  of  so  many  bridges  to  build  and  keep  in  repair. 
They  had  to  bear  half  of  the  expense  of  Jewett  City  Bridge,  across 
the  Quinabaug,  then  across  the  Shetucket  there  were  three  others  to 
be  maintained — viz..  Lord's  Bridge,  Lovett's  Bridge,  and  Lathrop's 
Bridge,  which  by  frequent  floods  would  be  washed  away  and  need 
rebuilding.  There  has  been  recently  built  at  Taft  another  bridge 
across  the  Shetucket,  which  gives  a  fourth  on  that  river.  However, 
Lisbon  gets  many  advantages  by  the  overflow  from  these  new  vil- 
lages springing  up  on  her  borders.  Within  Lisbon's  former  terri- 
tory, Hanover,  now  the  township  of  Sprague,  it  had  but  one  consid- 
erable water-power  stream  running  through  her  territory,  which 
Lisbon  lost  in  forming  the  new  township  of  Sprague. 

No  small  town  or  territory  was  ever  favored  with  a  greater 
percentage  of  water-power  privileges  than  Lisbon,  or  ever  got  so 
little  from  such  favorable  advantages. 

She  had  on  the  east  side  the  Quinabaug  River,  from  the  Aspi- 
nook  Bleachery  in  Jewett  City  down  to  its  union  with  the  She- 
tucket, where  there  is  said  to  be  undeveloped  power,  now  near 
the  railroad  tunnel.  Here  also  is  now  being  constructed  a  large 
plant  to  utilize  compressed  air  for  power. 

On  her  western  border  the  Shetucket  River,  rich  with  water- 
power,  gave  the  splendid  results  seen  at  Baltic  Village,  in  the 
township  of  Sprague.  Still  lower  down  the  river  and  just  above 
Lovett's  Bridge  the  Shetucket  River  has  had  a  dam  erected  which 
has  created  a  manufacturing  village  at  Occum ;  between  that  vil- 
lage and  Taft  below  there  is  said  to  be  an  undeveloped  power  for 
future  use.  The  immense  factories  at  Taft,  called  the  "Ponemah 
Mills,"  are  held  in  great  admiration  of  all  who  are  interested  in  man- 
ufacturing textile  products  in  our  country.  With  the  above  rivers 
on  each  side,  and  the  "Little  River"  running  through  the  centre  of 
the  town,  Lisbon  gained  great  privileges.  The  most  northern  priv- 
ilege on  the  Little  River  has  been  the  Allen's  Woollen  Mill,  owned 
and  operated  by  that  family,  until  recently,  for  several  generations. 
Formerly,  just  below  the  Allen's  Mill,  was  established  a  rubber  fac- 
tory, which  made  shoes  for  several  years,  but  was  aferwards  moved 
to  Colchester. 

Still  further  down  the  stream  an  old  saw  mill  and  grist  mill 
existed,  which  was  changed  and  utilized  by  a  German  named 
Obernau,  who  established  a  paper  manufactory  there,  and  after- 
wards a  power  »  /ivilege  just  above  it  was  developed,  by  erecting 
other  paper  mills,  which  were  operated  by  Obernau,  Reade  & 
P-         -    successfully    during   the   war   of   the    rebellion   and    subse- 

(  lIV. 

Next  below  on  Little  River,  nearly  one  hundred  years  ago, 
there  was  a  yarn  mill  called  John  Gray's  Factory.  It  was  later 
v*l'(\  and  improved  by  Hiram  Tarbox  in  manufacturing  jewelry. 

The  village  was  then  called  Eagleville  for  quite  a  long  period  ; 
it  now  goes  by  the  name  of  Versailles.  This  Versailles  power  from 
time  to  time  has  been  very  much  enlarged  and  improved  and  sue- 


43 

cessfully  operated  by  different  parties  in  making-  cloth  fabrics,  for 
which  it  has  a  large  and  splendid  factory.  At  the  present  time 
it  is  operated  by  the  Uncas  Manufacturing  Company  of  Norwich. 
All  the  thrift  and  wealth  of  the  above  villages  has  been  lost  to  Lis- 
bon and  gained  by  Sprague  through  the  division  of  the  town  in  1861. 

The  marked  increase  of  population  from  1850  to  i860  of  over 
three  hundred  persons  was  due  to  the  growth  of  the  Baltic  Village, 
which  is  now  a  part  of  the  town  of  Sprague,  having  been  separated 
from  Lisbon  the  following  year,  1861 — thus  leaving  Lisbon  at 
the  next  census,  taken  in  1870,  but  502.  For  the  next  following 
years  after  Sprague  was  set  off  Lisbon  did  not  increase  much,  if 
any,  nor  will  she  very  soon  perhaps  again  return  a  thousand  souls, 
for  her  territory  is  very  small — I  think  the  smallest  town,  or  the 
smallest  save  one  in  the  State.  Lisbon,  unlike  many  towns,  had 
but  few  other  than  those  of  English  descent ;  formerly,  nearly  all 
were  so ;  but  more  recent  observation  brings  in  a  greater  number 
or  percentage  of  foreign  born  citizens. 

The  smallness  of  a  town  or  county  does  not  always  militate 
against  its  usefulness  to  mankind  in  a  larger  sphere.  Rev.  Mr. 
Chipman,  from  whom  I  quote  largely  in  writing  upon  this  point, 
says :  "The  small  county,  Buckingham,  in  England,  when  it  fur- 
nished to  that  country  the  one  man,  John  Hampden,  rendered  to 
England  a  more  valuable  service  than  any  of  its  greater  counties, 
even  collectively  taken,  ever  gave.  The  hamlet  of  Scroobv,  in 
England,  hardly  to  be  found  on  a  map,  while  it  trained  such  men 
as  William  Brewster  and  William  Bradford,  equalled  and  sur- 
passed the  greatest  cities  in  conferring  benefits  on  the  English  nation, 
as  well  as  on  the  whole  world.  The  roll  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lisbon 
has  heretofore  contained  a  part  of  the  descendants  of  those  men, 
and  in  that  roll  are  yet  numbered  persons  whose  surnames  are 
derived  from  that  great  man  who,  at  Scrooby  and  Amsterdam,  was 
the  pastor  of  those  men — John  Robinson. 


No  search  has  been  specially  directed  for  ascertaining  how  many 
Lisbon  families  are  descended  from  the  company,  then  little  regarded 
and  since  so  renowned,  which  were  landed  from  the  Mayflower 
at  Plymouth  in  1620.  But  it  has  incidentally  appeared  that  descend- 
ants of  at  least  twelve  individuals  in  that  company — namely  (  Ruling 
Elder)  William  Brewster;  (Merchant)  Isaac  Allerton  ;  (Assistant) 
John  Howland ;  and  ( Warrior)  Miles  Standish — have  lived  '  " 
Lisbon. 

Lisbon  has   sent   out   many   distinguished   men   to   settle  1 

towns ;  several  removed  their  residence  to  Norwich  Landing ;  ou  r 
of  her  sons  were  early  emigrants  to  New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Central  New  York,  and  Eastern  Ohio.  A  few  went 
to  Murrayfield,  Mass.,  which  they  named  Norwich  ;  of  late  years 
that  name  has  been  changed  to  Huntington,  although  one  part  of 
the  town  has  a  post-office  still  called  Norwich. 


44 

The  towns  of  Kinsman  and  Kirkland  in  Ohio  were  named  from 
Lisbon  men  who  settled  there.  Among  Lisbon's  sons  may  be  men- 
tioned members  of  congress,  judges,  lawyers,  doctors,  clergymen, 
and  missionaries. 


Rev.  Daniel  Waldo,  although  not  a  native  resident  of  Lisbon, 
but  so  near  her  border  in  Scotland,  was  highly  beloved  and  re- 
vered by  the  Lisbon  people.  He  was  early  in  Home  Missionary 
work  in  New  York  State ;  he  was  acting  minister  of  the  second 
church  of  Lisbon  in  1834.  He  was  born  10th  September,  1762; 
graduate  Yale  College  1788;  died  July  30,  1864,  nearly  one  hundred 
and  two  years  old.  He  was  called  Father  Waldo,  and  was  a  chaplain 
in  the  U.  S.  Congress  from  1856  to  1858,  and  then  ninety-four  years 
of  age ;  showing  another  instance  of  longevity  of  natives  of  Lisbon 
and  vicinity. 

Rev.  James  Alexander  Hazen  was  born  at  West  Springfield, 
Mass.,  1813;  graduate  Yale  College  1834;  died  October  29,  1862. 
He  was  pastor  of  the  second  church  of  Lisbon  from  his  installation, 
December  1,  1862,  till  his  death.  He  was  the  last  minister  in  Han- 
over society  while  she  remained  an  integral  part  of  Lisbon.  As 
Hanover  is  no  longer  in  Lisbon,  but  in  the  town  of  Sprague  since 
1861,  we  omit  following  her  history  from  that  date. 


MAI'    OF    LISBON. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES. 


Dr.  Joseph  Lathrop.  D.D.,  was  born  in  Lisbon,  1731 ;  graduate 
Yale  College  1754;  died  1820.  His  descendant,  Samuel,  graduate 
Yale  College  1792;  died  1846;  who  for  several  year?  was  a  Member 
of  Congress — from   1818  to  1826. 


Rev.  Nathan  Perkins,  D.D.,  fourth  son  of  Captain  Mathew 
and  Mrs.  Hannah  Bishop  Perkins,  was  born  in  Lisbon  (Newent), 
May  18,  1749;  graduate  C.  N.  Y.  1770;  died  January  18,  1838. 
Preached  at  West  Hartford  after  he  had  been  settled  in  Wrentham, 
Mass. 


Gen.  Simon  Perkins,  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  in  1771  ;  died 
November  19,  1844.  He  was  a  land  surveyor  when  a  young  man 
about  twenty-four.  He  married  Nancy  Anna  Bishop ;  removed 
to  Warren,  Ohio,  in  1804.  He  is  said  to  have  done  valuable  service 
in  the  war  of  1812-1815.  His  father,  Simon  Perkins,  was  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  Continental  Army.  Born  October  25,  1737;  died 
September  7,  1778.  He  was  the  second  son  of  Dr.  Joseph  Perkins 
and  Mrs.  Mary  Bushnell  Perkins,  and  a  grandson  of  Deacon  Joseph 
Perkins  and  of  his  first  wife,  Martha  Morgan  Perkins.  This 
General  Simon  Perkins,  who  removed  to  Warren,  Ohio,  became 
a  thrifty  and  prominent  citizen  of  that  place.  He  was  the  father 
of  the  late  Henry  Bishop  Perkins,  who  died  in  Warren  March  2, 
1902,  who  was  well  known  throughout  the  State  and  country  as  a 
multi-millionaire,  and  has  left  three  children,  now  living  in  Ohio. 
One  of  his  sons,  Henry  Bishop  Perkins,  Jr.,  died  October,  1900. 


Hannah  Perkins,  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  Jul\-  7,  1701  ;  died 
1745.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Jabez  Perkins,  Esq.,  and  Mrs. 
Hannah  Lathrop  Perkins.  She  married  October  16,  17 18,  Capt. 
Joshua  Huntington,  born  December  13,  1698;  died  August  26,  1745. 
He  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  shippers  from  Norwich  Landing, 
afterwards  called  Chelsea.  The  oldest  child  of  Capt.  Joshua  and 
of  Mrs.  Hannah  (Perkins)  Huntington  was  Jabez,  born  August  7, 
1719;  died  October  5,  1786.  He  had  been  a  successful  merchant 
in  Norwich  and  was  well  known  in  the  West  India  trade.  During 
1 750- 1 763,  two  or  three  years  excepted,  he  was  a  Representative 


46 

in  the  Colonial  Legislature,  and  was  Speaker  of  the  Lower  House 
1 760- 1 763.  He  was  one  of  the  State's  Council  of  Safety  in  the 
period  of  the  Revolution;  appointed  in  1776  one  of  the  two  Major- 
Generals  of  the  Connecticut  Militia,  and  a  year  afterwards  was  a 
sole  Major-General.  One  of  his  children  was  Jedadiah  Huntington, 
born  August  4,  1743  ;  graduate  H.  C.  1763  ;  died  September  25,  1818. 
He  was  a  Brigadier-General  in  the  Continental  Army,  afterwards 
Brevet  Major-General;  Sheriff  of  New  London  County  ;  Treasurer  of 
State,  Connecticut,  and  a  member  of  the  Convention  by  which  Con- 
necticut accepted  the  U.  S.  Constitution.  Appointed  in  1789  Collector 
of  the  Customs  for  New  London  district,  and  held  that  position  under 
four  National  Administrations.  He  was  one  of  the  original  Cor- 
porate Members  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  One  of  his  sons  was  Jabez 
Huntington,  graduate  Yale  College  1784,  a  President  of  the  Nor- 
wich Bank ;  another  was  Joshua  Huntington,  graduate  Yale  College 
1804,  a  pastor  of  the  old  South  Church  in  Boston:  another  son 
was  Ebenezer,  born  December  26,  1754;  graduate  Yale  College 
1775;  died  June  17,  1834;  a  Brigadier-General  chosen  in  1810,  and 
in  1817  a  Member  of  Congress;  also  a  Major-General  of  Connec- 
ticut Militia.  One  of  the  daughters  of  Major-General  Jabez  was 
Mary,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Strong,  D.D.,  of  Norwich;  and 
another  was  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Col.  John  Chester,  of  Wethersfield. 
whose  daughter  Elizabeth  was  wife  of  Eleazer  F.  Backus,  of  Albany, 
N.  Y.,  and  was  the  mother  of  the  Rev.  John  Chester  Backus,  of 
Baltimore,  Md.,  and  of  Rev.  Trumbull  Backus,  D.D.,  of  Schenec- 
tady, N.  Y. 


Susanna  Perkins,  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  January  29,  1752; 
died  September  10,  1810;  was  a  daughter  of  Capt.  Mathew  and  Airs. 
Hannah  Bishop  Perkins;  she  married  August  13,  1772,  Rev  John 
Staples,  of  Taunton,  Mass;  born  1744;  died  February  15,  1804; 
first  pastor  of  the  second  church  in  Canterbury  till  his  death. 
Among  their  eleven  children  were  Seth  Perkins,  graduate  Y.  C. 
1797;  died  1861  ;  a  distinguished  lawyer,  resident  in  New  Haven 
and  in  New  York ;  appointed  with  Nathaniel  Terry  and  David 
Deming,  1815,  to  revise  all  the  militia  laws  of  Connecticut.  Job 
Perkins,  graduate  Y.  C.  1808;  died  1861  ;  and  Sophos.  graduate 
Y.  C.  1809;  died  1826. 


Rev.  William  Potter  was  born  in  Lisbon,  February  1,  179(1,  the 
second  son  of  William  and  Mrs.  Olive  Fitch  Potter.  William,  the 
last  named,  was  born  in  Ipswich,  Mass.,  January  29,  1758;  the 
second  son  of  Anthony  and  Sarah  (Fuller)  Potter,  said  Anthony 
having  died  in  November,  1758;  his  widow  married  Josiah  Wood. 
Her  son,  William,  was  brought  by  them  to  Scotland,  Conn.,  in  1762, 
from  which  he  moved  to  Newent,  Lisbon,  in  1777,  where  he  died 
May  27,  1832.     The  wife  of  the  above  named  William  Potter,  Sr., 


47 

was  a  daughter  of  William  and  Mary  (  Paine )  Fitch,  the  former 
a  son  of  Hon.  James  Fitch,  of  Canterbury,  Conn. ;  the  latter  a 
daughter  of  Rev.  Elisha  Paine,  Jr.,  originally  a  lawyer  in  Canter- 
bury, Conn.,  Pastor  of  a  Separatist  Church  in  Bridgehampton,  L.  I.. 
and  in  his  time  closely  connected  with  the  origin  of  the  denomina- 
tion called  Separatists,  now  extinct.  William  Potter,  Jr.,  attended 
the  Academies  at  Litchfield,  now  Morris,  and  at  Clinton,  N.  Y., 
and  was  approved  by  the  Windham  Association,  January  20,  1820, 
and  later  in  the  same  year  was  ordained  at  Killingly,  Conn.  Ho 
was  a  missionary  to  the  Cherokee  Indians  for  some  twenty  years 
at  Creek  Path,  Ala.  Since  then  he  has  been  in  ministerial  service 
in  Ohio  He  married  Laura  Weld,  of  Braintree,  Vt,  a  niece  of 
Rev.  Ludivicus  Weld,  Pastor  in  Hampton,  Conn.,  from  1792  to  1824. 


Dr.  Jedediah  Burnham,  born  in  Xewent,  Lisbon,  April  3,  1755; 
died  in  Kinsman,  Ohio,  March  11,  1840;  was  the  oldest  child  of 
Capt.  Benjamin  Burnham,  Jr.,  and  of  his  first  wife,  Mrs.  Jemima 
(Perkins)  Burnham.  Benjamin  Burnham,  Sr.,  along  with  three 
brothers  and  a  nephew,  were  early  emigrants  to  Lisbon  from  Ipswich 
(now  Essex),  Mass.  He  married,  April  20,  1727,  Mary,  born  Jan- 
uary 20,  1707-8,  daughter  of  Robert  and  Rebecca  (Burley)  Kins- 
man, born  in  Ipswich,  Mass.,  December  21,  1696;  died  October  15, 
1737.  Dr.  Burnham,  after  receiving  medical  tuition  from  Dr. 
Joseph  Perkins,  Sr.,  practiced  his  profession  in  his  native  place  until 
his  removal  to  Ohio  in  the  spring  of  181 7,  and  was  also  before 
his  removal  employed  much  in  Parish  and  town  affairs.  He 
married,  April  27,  1799,  Lydia  Kent,  born  September  19,  1752. 
Their  oldest  son,  Jedediah,  born  July  19,  1806,  was  father  of  Jede- 
diah Kent  Burnham,  graduate  Y.  C.  1854;  an  attorney  at  Fort 
Smith,  Ark. 


Rev.  Aaron  Kinne  was  born  in  Lisbon,  son  of  Moses  and 
Abigail  (Read)  Kinne,  April  26,  1742,  graduate  Y.  C.  1765;  died 
9th  July,  1824.  He  was  a  pastor  in  Groton,  Conn.  He  was  a 
home  missionary  in  Xew  York  and  Berkshire  County,  Mass.  Mar- 
ried Mary  (Wolworth)  Morgan  and  they  had  eleven  children;  two 
sons  graduated  at  Yale  College  1794  and  1804. 


Dr.  Elisha  Perkins,  third  son  of  Dr.  Joseph  Perkins,  born  in 
Newent,  Lisbon,  January  16,  1741  ;  died  in  New  York,  September 
6,  1799.  After  completing  his  study  with  his  father  he  settled  in 
Plainfield,  Conn.,  and  had  an  extensive  practice  as  a  physician.  He 
invented,  about  1796,  a  sort  of  mechanical  remedy  called  Tractors, 
which  was  thought  to  effect  remarkable  cures  by  some. 


Dr.  Elisha's  son,  Rev.  John  Douglass  Perkins,  graduate  Y.  C. 
1 791  ;  died   1847;  was  a  home  missionary  in   1795.     His  son,  Rev. 


48 

George  Perkins,  graduate  Y.  C.  1803;  died  1852;  was  a  pastor 
in  Jewett  City,  and  his  son,  Benjamin  Douglass  Perkins,  graduate 
Y.  C.  1794,  died  18 10,  was  an  eminent  bookseller  in  New  York, 
and  his  daughter,  Susan,  married  first  Josiah  Lyndon  Arnold,  Esq., 
graduate  D.  C.  1788;  died  1796;  and  second,  Hon.  Charles  Marsh, 
LL.D.,  graduate  D.  C.  1786;  died  1849.  She  was  the  mother  (by 
first  marriage)  of  the  Hon.  Lemuel  Hastings  Arnold,  graduate 
D.  C.  181 1  ;  died  1852,  who  was  a  Member  of  Congress  and  a  Gov- 
ernor of  Rhode  Island.  Susan  also  was  mother  of  Lyndon  Arnold 
Marsh,  graduate  D.  C.  1819,  and  of  Hon.  George  Perkins  Marsh, 
LL.D.,  graduate  D.  C.  1820,  who  was  Minister  of  the  United  States 
to  Turkey,  and  to  Italy.  A  grandson  of  Dr.  Elisha  Perkins  above 
was  Dr.  Elisha  H.  Perkins,  of  Baltimore,  Md. 


Dr.  Joseph  Perkins  was  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon.  November  2^, 
1704;  graduate  Y.  C.  1727 ;  died  July  7,  1794.  He  was  eldest  son  of 
Deacon  Joseph  and  Mrs.  Martha  (Morgan)  Perkins.  Deacons. 
Joseph  and  Jabez  Perkins,  and  their  brother  Mathew  Perkins, 
were  among  the  earlier  settlers  of  Lisbon.  They  were  born  at 
Ipswich,  Mass.  They  were  the  sons  of  Jacob  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Perkins.  Said  Jacob,  to  whom  his  father's  homestead  was  be- 
queathed, was  one  of  the  six  children  who.  with  their  parents,  John 
and  Judith  Perkins,  came  from  England  in  1631.  This  John  Per- 
kins was  among  the  first  twelve  occupants  of  Ipswich,  founded  by 
Hon.  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  founder  afterwards  of  New  London, 
Conn.  Elizabeth,  a  daughter  of  Jacob,  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Perkins, 
was  by  her  husband,  Thomas  Boardman,  mother  of  Margaret 
(Boardman),  wife  of  Capt.  Richard  Manning,  of  Ipswich,  whose 
daughter,  Anstice,  became  the  wife  of  Samuel  Chipman,  of  Salem, 
Mass. 


Dr.  Perkins,  after  applying  himself  to  the  study  of  medicine 
and  surgery,  established  himself  in  Newent  and  soon  showed  him- 
self an  able  practitioner.  In  both  departments  of  his  profession  he 
had  alike  knowledge  and  skill.  He  continued  to  practice  until  near 
the  close  of  his  life.  Patients  sometimes  were  resident  at  his  house, 
making  it  substantially,  if  not  formally,  a  private  hospital.  He  was 
especially  distinguished,  as  has  been  said,  as  a  surgeon.  The 
"heroic"  practice,  as  by  him  exhibited,  was  not  the  daring  of  an 
experimenter  who  was  rash,  but  the  courage  of  one  who  knew  exi- 
gencies and  responsibilities,  and  as  well  knew  what  resources  he 
had  for  meeting  them.  His  abilities  were  appreciated  in  other  than 
professional  lines.  He  was  elected  selectman  when  a  little  over 
thirty  ;  was  made  a  deacon  of  the  church  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight 
years,  and  to  the  last  justified  the  confidence  he  had  gained.  Or. 
Perkins  married  first,  July  17,  1728,  Lydia  Pierce,  of  Plainfield  :  she 
died  January  8,   1730,  aged  twenty-four  years.  He  married  again. 


49 

July  28,  1730,  Mary,  the  second  daughter  of  Dr.  Caleb  Bushnell,  of 
Norwich.  She  died  February  8,  1795,  aged  eighty-seven.  By  the 
first  marriage  Dr.  Perkins  had  a  daughter,  Lydia,  who  married 
Daniel  Kirkland  (probably  Daniel,  born  October  1,  1725,  son  of 
Rev.  Daniel  Kirkland).  By  this  latter  wife  there  were  several 
children.  Dr.  Joseph  Perkins,  Jr.,  oldest  son  of  Dr.  Joseph 
Perkins,  St.,  bom  August  11,  1733;  died  May  5,  1775.  He  was 
instructed  by  his  father  and  practiced  in  his  native  town,  Newent, 
Lisbon,  until  smallpox  terminated  his  life.  He  married  Joanna, 
oldest  daughter  of  Benjamin  Kinsman  and  his  wife,  Mary  (Burn- 
ham)  Kinsman,  who  was  born  May  30,  1733.  She  married  the 
second  time,  on  January  16,  1780,  Pember  Calkins,  of  New  London. 
Dr.  Perkins*s  children  were  four  sons,  viz. :  Major  Joseph  Perkins, 
a  Captain  in  the  Continental  Army,  merchant  in  Norwich,  whose 
son,  Alfred  Elijah  Perkins,  M.D.,  graduate  Y.  C.  1830,  died  in  1834, 
a  generous  benefactor  of  Yale  College.  His  daughter,  Mary  Wat- 
kinson  Perkins,  was  the  wife  of  the  late  Hon.  John  A.  Rockwell, 
M.  C.  from  1847  to  1849,  and  the  mother  of  Alfred  Perkins  Rock- 
well, graduate  Y.  C.  1855,  late  professor  there.  She  was  also  the 
mother  of  Joseph  Perkins  Rockwell,  P.  B.  at  Y.  C.  1868;  also  of 
John  A.  Rockwell,  M.D.,  who  more  recently  lived  at  Lisbon  on  the 
Tracy  farm,  which  he  owned  for  a  while ;  also  of  Benjamin  Perkins, 
graduate  Y.  C.  1785;  died  in  1841.  Elijah  Perkins,  M.D.,  graduate 
Y.  C.  1787;  died  1806;  a  practitioner  in  Philadelphia;  and  Horn 
Elias  Perkins,  graduate  Y.  C.  1786;  died  1845;  M.  C.  from  1801  to 
1803,  and  was  Mayor  of  New  London  1829-32.  He  was  the  father 
of  Nathaniel  Shaw  Perkins,  M.D.,  graduate  Y.  C.  181 2,  who  died 
1870;  he  practiced  medicine  in  New  London,  and  was  father  of 
Thomas  Shaw  Perkins,  who  graduated  Y.  C.  1812,  and  died  1844. 


Dr.  Eliphas  Perkins  was  born  m  Newent,  Lisbon,  1753:  grad- 
uate Y.  C.  1776;  died  at  Athens,  Ohio,  1828.  After  receiving 
medical  instruction  with  Dr.  Jabez  Fitch,  of  Canterbury,  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  medical  practice  at  Vergennes,  Vt,  whence  he 
removed  to  Marietta,  Ohio,  in  1799.  He  was  an  able  physician,  a 
patron  of  learning,  and  a  devout  Christian,  and  was  treasurer  of  the 
Ohio  University.  His  father  was  Capt.  John  Perkins,  born  October 
5,  1709;  died  April  16,  1761  ;  a  son  of  Deacon  Joseph  Perkins.  His 
mother,  the  second  wife  of  his  father,  was  Lydia  (Tracy)  Perkins. 
The  above  Dr.  Eliphas's  wife  was  Lydia  Fitch,  second  daughter  of 
the  above-mentioned  Dr.  Fitch,  and  who  died  in  t8oo  in  Marietta, 
Ohio.  Of  their  children  the  eldest  was  Chauncev  Fitch  Perkins, 
M.D.,  born  1782  ;  died  1872  ;  a  practitioner  in  Athens,  Ohio,  and  at 
Erie,  Pa.  The  youngest  was  Rev.  Henry  Perkins,  D.D.,  born 
February  9,  1796;  graduate  O.  U.  1816.  In  Allentown,  N.  J.,  from 
1820  to  January,  t88o,  a  pastor  there,  and  at  his  death  still  retain- 
ing the  pastoral  relation. 


5° 

Dr.  Caleb  Perkins,  born  at  Newent,  Lisbon,  1747,  the  youngest 
son  of  Dr.  Joseph  Perkins,  St.,  was  a  physician  who  practiced  his 
profession  in  West  Hartford,  Conn.  His  wife  was  a  sister  of  John 
Trumbull,  LL.D.,  who  graduated  Y.  C.  1767,  and  a  daughter  of  Rev. 
John  Trumbull,  who  graduated  Y.  C.  1735,  and  was  first  pastor  of 
the  church  in  Westburv,  Watertown. 


Dr.  Abijah  Perkins,  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  August,  1755; 
died  August  31,  1782.  He  was  a  surgeon  in  the  revolutionary  army 
and  was  captured  by  the  British  forces,  and  his  death  occurred  from 
hardship  endured  while  held  as  a  prisoner.  His  parents  were  Capt. 
John  Perkins  and  Lydia  (Tracy)  Perkins. 


Simeon  Perkins,  Esq.,  emigrated  to  Liverpool,  Xova  Scotia,  in 
1762.  Said  to  have  been  born  in  Norwich,  February  24,  1735.  He 
died  May  9,  181 2,  having  been  a  Judge  of  Probate,  and  held  various 
other  official  positions  in  that  Province. 

He  undoubtedly  was  born  in  Newent,  Norwich,  or  Lisbon, 
February,  1735,  as  he  was  baptized  there  on  record  February,  1735, 
and  was  the  son  of  Jacob  Perkins,  Esq.,  and  his  wife,  Airs.  Jemima 
(Leonard)    Perkins. 


Enoch  Perkins,  Esq.,  fifth  son  of  Capt.  Mathew  and  Mrs. 
Hannah  (Bishop)  Perkins,  born  at  Newent,  Lisbon,  August  11, 
1760;  graduate  Y.  C.  1781,  and  was  made  a  tutor  there  from  1784 
to  1786;  died  in  1828.  He  was  a  legal  practitioner  in  Hartford, 
Conn.  He  married  Anna,  born  February  19,  1764,  a  daughter  of 
Rev.  Timothy  Pitkin,  who  graduated  Y.  C.  1747,  a  son  of  Gov. 
William  Pitkin.  A  son  of  Enoch  Perkins  and  his  wife  was  Hon. 
Thomas  Clap  Perkins,  born  July  29,  1798,  and  graduate  Y.  C.  1818; 
died  October  11,  1870;  an  attorney  in  Hartford  and  a  revisor  of  the 
statutes  of  Connecticut,  and  often  a  State  Senator,  and  elected  a 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  an  office  which  he  declined.  His 
children  by  his  wife  Mary,  a  sister  of  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  D.D., 
were  Charles  Enoch  Perkins,  who  graduated  W.  C.  1853,  an  attor- 
ney-at-law  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  Frederick  Beecher  Perkins,  who 
graduated  Y.  C.  i860.  Another  son  of  Enoch  Perkins  and  of  Mrs. 
Anna  ( Pitkin )  Perkins,  was  Rev.  George  William  Perkins,  who 
graduated  Y.  C.  1824;  died  November  15,  1856;  was  successively  a 
pastor  at  Montreal,  Canada  ;  in  Meriden,  Conn.,  and  a  pastor  and 
editor  in  Chicago,  111. 


Ephraim  Perkins,  Esq.,  the  third  son  of  Capt.  Mathew  and 
Mrs.  Hannah  Bishop  Perkins,  born  July  8,  1745:  died  April  23, 
1813,  was  a  prominent  and  leading  citizen  of  Becket,  Mass.,  where 
he  emigrated  in  1770.     He  married,  November  7,  1771.  Mary  Chap- 


51 

lin,  of  Mansfield,  now  Chaplin,  and  was  the  father  of  Alathew 
Perkins,  who  graduated  Y.  C.  1799,  and  died  1808;  he  was  an 
attorney  at  Lisbon,  N.  Y. ;  and  still  another  son,  and  brother  to 
this  last,  was  Hon.  Bishop  Perkins,  who  died  in  Ogdensburgh, 
X.  Y.,  and  was  a  Member  of  Congress,  as  well  as  a  Member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  New  York. 


Samuel  Perkins,  seventh  son  of  Capt.  Mathew  and  Hannah 
Bishop  Perkins,  born  September  14,  1766;  graduate  Y.  C.  1785; 
died  September  22,  1850.  He  was  approved  as  a  candidate  for  the 
ministry  by  the  New  Haven  Association,  1789.  He  lived  in  Wind- 
ham and  was  a  deacon  of  a  church  there.  He  married  Anna  Hunt- 
ington, and  was  the  father  of  Samuel  Huntington  Perkins,  graduate 
Y.  C.   181 7,  a  lawyer  in  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Mary  Lee,  born  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  April  16,  1771,  a  daughter 
of  Rev.  Andrew  Lee,  D.D. ;  married  February  12,  1795,  William 
Perkins,  of  Ashford,  who  graduated  Y.  C.  1792;  died  1820.  One 
of  the  children  of  said  William  Perkins  and  his  wife,  Mary  Lee, 
was  George  Perkins,  born  December  24,  1803 ;  graduate  Y.  C.  1828 ; 
a  lawyer  and  resident  in  Norwich,  who  died  October  13,  1874. 


Dr.  Jabez  Fitch  was  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  May  23,  1728  or 
1729;  he  was  a  second  son  of  Col.  Jabez  Fitch  and  his  wife, 
Lydia  (Gale)  Fitch.  This  Jabez  Fitch,  Jr.,  and  Hannah  Per- 
kins were  married  by  Peter  Powers.  His  ancestors  were  of  the 
first  settlers.  Major  James  Fitch  appears  as  an  original  proprietor 
of  large  tracts  of  Lisbon  territory.  These  Fitches  were  allied  to  the 
Bradfords  and  Adams  families  of  Massachusetts ;  some  of  them 
had  been  residents  in  Canterbury ;  one  of  Dr.  Fitch's  children  was 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Fitch,  D.D..  born  1756;  died  1833;  graduate  Y.  C. 
1777,  and  a  tutor  there  eight  years,  and  the  first  president  of  Wil- 
liams College.     Later  he  was  a  pastor  in  West  Bloomfield,  N.  J. 


Abigail  Porter,  of  Newent,  Lisbon,  married,  February  25, 
1776,  Jacob  Galusha,  whose  son,  Hon.  Jonas  Galusha,  born  1753, 
was  in  1813  Governor  of  Vermont,  and  died  in  Shaftsburv,  Vt., 
1834- 


John  Kinsman,  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  1753;  died  in  Kins- 
man, Ohio,  August  17,  1813.  He  was  the  oldest  son  of  Capt. 
Jeremiah  and  his  wife,  Sarah  Thomas  Kinsman.  John  married 
Rebecca  Perkins,  of  Lisbon,  October  4,  1792;  removed  June  14, 
1804,  to  Ohio,  and  was  chief  among  the  founders  of  the  township 
by  him  purchased,  where  his  posterity  perpetuates  his  name. 


52 

Rev.  James,  a  son  of  James  Abel,  whose  parents  were  Alpheus 
and  Elizabeth  Abel,  baptized  at  Hanover,  Lisbon,  April  20,  1803 ; 
graduate  Y.  C.  1819;  was  pastor  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary 
in  1822 ;  afterwards  in  other  places.  He  died  at  Oswego,  N.  Y., 
May,  it 


Rev.  Beriah  Green,  born  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  1800;  died  May  4, 
1874;  graduate  M.  C.  1819.  He  was  afterwards  in  several  positions 
of  trust  and  importance,  and  was  made  President  of  Oneida  College 
Institute,  Whitesboro,  N.  Y.  He  had  a  brother,  Rev.  John  Smith 
Green,  born  in  Lisbon,  graduate  Andover  Theological  Seminary 
1827,  who  was  ordained  minister  and  went  as  missionary  of  the 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  at  Wailuku,  or  Maui,  S.  I.  Since  1843  he  was 
missionary  of  the  A.  M.  Association  at  Makawao,  Sandwich  Islands. 
He  also  had  a  son,  Rev.  J.  P.  Green,  also  a  missionary  at  Oahu,  S.  I. 
Rev.  J.  S.  Green  died  January  5,  1878,  aged  eighty-one  years. 


Luther  Manning,  M.D.,  born  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  January  9, 
1786;  died  in  1835;  married  on  January  10,  1810.  Lydia.  born 
January  19,  1782;  died  December  11,  181 1,  a  daughter  of  Jedediah 
Burnham,  of  Newent,  Lisbon.  He  was  a  practitioner  in  Scotland, 
Conn.  His  father,  Dr.  Luther  Manning,  a  physician  in  Hanover, 
Lisbon,  was  born  in  Scotland,  Conn.;  died  May  7,  1813 ;  was  a  son 
of  Hezekiah  and  Mrs.  Mary  Manning,  and  married  October  12, 
1779,  Sarah  Smith,  of  Scotland,  who  died  June  5,  1840,  aged 
eightv-five  vears. 


Rev.  John  Adams  Allen,  a  son  of  Harvey  Allen  and  Mrs. 
Luceba  (Adams)  Allen,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  December  1, 
1816;  graduate  O.  C.  1842,  and  Ob.  Theo.  Seminary  in  1845;  mar- 
ried, 1847,  Elmira  Pierce,  and  was  pastor  in  Sheffield,  111.  Said 
Harvey  and  Mrs.  Luceba  Allen  removed  to  Ohio  in  18 17.  Their 
other  children  were  Rev.  Nathan  W.  Allen,  of  Oregon,  and  Dr. 
Charles  P.  Allen,  of  Princeton,  111.,  who  has  been  not  only  a 
physician,  but  a  lawyer  and  a  missionary  among  the  Indian  tribes 
of  the  West. 


Dr.  Daniel  Gordon,  a  son  of  Daniel  and  Mrs.  Jennet  Gordon 
was  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  August,  1765;  graduate  D.  C.  1786; 
studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Elisha  Perkins,  of  Plainfield,  and  married 
Priscilla  Pierce.  He  was  a  successful  physician  in  Plainfield,  and 
after  some  ten  years  he  was  married  and  removed  to  Granville, 
N.  Y.  He  is  still  remembered  by  the  oldest  people,  but  the  time 
and  place  of  his  death  have  not  been  ascertained. 


53 

Hon.  John  Lovett  was  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  February  20, 
1761  ;  graduate  Y.  C.  1782;  died  at  Fort  Meigs,  Ohio,  1818.  He 
was  a  lawyer  of  distinction  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  a  Member  of 
Congress  18 13- 17.  By  his  wife  Nancy,  daughter  of  Samuel  Mc- 
Clellan,  of  Woodstock,  he  was  the  father  of  eight  children.  His 
oldest  son,  John  Erskine  Lovett,  graduate  Y.  C.  1814,  died  1847, 
was  also  a  lawyer  in  Albany.  The  Hon.  John,  first  of  the  above, 
was  the  oldest  son  of  Captain  Samuel  Lovett,  born  October 
14,  1735,  died  August  1,  1831,  and  of  his  first  wife,  Abigail  Sprague, 
of  Lebanon,  married  April  20,  1758,  died  6th  of  March,  1761,  aged 
twenty  years.  This  Samuel  Lovett  married  the  second  time,  June 
30,  1763,  Charity  Perkins,  daughter  of  Jabez  Perkins,  Jr.,  of 
Newent,  Lisbon.    The  Lovetts  of  Lisbon  were  descendants  of  his. 


Rev.  Ebenezer  Werks  Robinson,  son  of  Ralph  Robinson,  of 
Granville,  N.  Y.,  preached  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  from  1849  to  1852. 
He  died  in  Washington,  D.  C,  April,  1869.  At  his  suggestion 
the  action  was  taken  which  resulted  in  the  celebration  at  Norwich 
in  June,  1859,  of  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
general  association  of  Connecticut ;  one  result  of  which,  especially 
due  to  his  own  industry,  is  seen  in  the  valuable  work  published  in 
1861  under  direction  of  that  body,  entitled  "Contributions  to  the 
Ecclesiastical  Historv  of  Connecticut." 


Dr.  Jonathan  Knight,  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  1758;  after 
studying  medicine,  was  a  surgeon  1777  and  1780  in  the  Con- 
tinental Army,  and  afterwards  settled  in  Norwalk,  Conn.  David 
Knight,  one  of  the  early  occupants  of  Lisbon,  who  married  in  Nor- 
wich, March  17,  1692,  Sarah,  a  daughter  of  Stephen  and  Mrs. 
Sarah  (Spencer)  Backus,  was  a  grandparent  of  the  above  Dr. 
Jonathan.  A  son  of  Dr.  Jonathan  Knight  was  Jonathan  Knight, 
Jr.,  M.D.,  graduate  Y.  C.  1808,  an  eminent  physician  and  dis- 
tinguished professor  in  Yale  College,  and  was  made  President  of 
the  American  Medical  Society.  He  was  born  September  4,  1789; 
died  August  25,   1864. 


Rev.  Caleb  Knight,  born  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  October  30,  1771, 
graduate  W.  C.  1800;  died  October  25,  1854;  was  probably  a 
grandson  of  a  Benjamin,  born  in  Newent  1730,  and  removed  when 
very  young  with  his  parents  to  Monson,  Mass.  He  studied  theology 
with  the  Rev.  Charles  Backus,  D.D.,  and  was  ordained  in  Hinsdale, 
Mass.,  April,  1802.  His  last  years  were  passed  in  Hatfield,  Mass. 
A  Benjamin  Knight  died  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  April  14,  1772,  aged 
sixty-four  vears. 


54 

Temperance  Bishop  was  born  at  Newent,  Lisbon,  1733,  the 
daughter  of  John  and  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Temperance  Lathrop 
Bishop.  She  married,  November  12,  1761,  Daniel  Holmes,  then  a 
physician  at  Woodstock,  Conn.  He  died  in  1788.  Dr.  Holmes 
served  during  the  war  between  England  and  France  (1756),  and 
subsequently  was  in  command  of  a  company  and  served  through 
several  campaigns  in  Canada.  During  the  American  war  for  In- 
dependence he  was  a  surgeon  in  the  Continental  Army.  His  second 
wife,  Temperance  Bishop,  was,  according  to  manifold  testimony,  a 
lady  of  noble  bearing  and  surpassing  excellence  and  loveliness. 
Their  oldest  child  was  David  Holmes,  born  1762.  Their  second 
child  was  Rev.  Abiel  Holmes,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  born  December  24, 
1763.  He  died  June  4,  1837.  He  graduated  Y.  C.  1783,  and  was 
ordained  at  New  Haven  September  15,  1785.  Pastor  at  Medway, 
1785-91.  A  portion  of  that  time  in  office  as  tutor  in  Yale  College 
and  pastor  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  1792-1832.  Among  his  numer- 
ous published  writings  are  "American  Annals,"  two  volumes,  of 
which  the  first  edition  appeared  in  1805.  He  married,  first,  Mary, 
the  daughter  of  Rev.  Ezra  Stiles,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Yale 
College,  by  which  marriage  there  were  no  children.  He  married, 
second,  Sarah,  the  daughter  of  Hon.  Oliver  Wendell,  of  Boston, 
by  which  marriage  there  were  five  children  born :  Mary  Jackson, 
wife  of  LTsher  Parsons,  M.D.,  of  Providence,  R.  I. ;  Ann  Susan, 
wife  of  Hon.  and  Rev.  Charles  W.  Upham,  a  pastor  in  Salem,  Mass., 
a  mayor  of  that  city  and  a  Member  of  Congress ;  a  daughter,  who 
died  early ;  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  M.D.,  a  medical  professor,  dis- 
tinguished also  as  a  poet  and  an  author,  and  a  John,  who  was  also 
a  doctor  and  a  lawyer. 


Rev.  Stenhen  Tracy  was  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  1749,  graduate 
C.  N.  J.  1770;  died  1822.  He  was  a  son  of  Jeremiah  Tracy,  Jr., 
and  of  his  first  wife,  Mrs.  Abigail  (Story)  Tracy.  He  was  first 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Peru,  Mass.,  1772-76,  and  was  the  first  pastor 
of  the  church  of  Norwich,  Mass.,  now  Huntington,  Mass.,  from 
May,   1 78 1,  to  June,   1799. 


Eleazer  Jewett  was  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  August  31,  1731, 
and  died  in  Jewett  City,  Griswold,  December  7,  1817.  He  removed 
early  in  1771  from  Newent  to  Preston,  now  Griswold,  and  settled 
on  the  Pachaug  River  near  its  entrance  into  the  Quinabaug.  He 
erected  there  a  grist  mill  and  later  a  saw  mill,  and  by  selling  land 
at  reasonable  rates  drew  other  persons  to  his  vicinity,  and  from 
this  beginning  arose  gradually  around  him  a  village  thriving  with 
manufacturing  and  mechanical  enterprises,  which  was  called  Jewett 

City. 

The  headstone  at  his  grave  in  Jewett  City  states:  "In  April, 
1771,  be  began  the  settlement  of  this  village,  and  from  his  perse- 


55 

vering  industry  and  active  benevolence    it  has  derived  its  present 
importance." 

Mr.  Jewett  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Sarah  Farn- 
ham,  who  died  May  4,  1798.  His  second  wife,  Elizabeth  Gallup, 
died  February  16.  1822.  (Of  his  children,  Thomas  married  in  Lisbon, 
February  3/1785,  Prudence  Rood;  Sarah  married  Col.  Constant 
Murdock,  of  Norwich,  Vt. :  a  daughter  married  John  Wilson,  and 
the  fifth  child,  Joseph  jewett,  married,  March  4,  1790,  Betsy  King). 
The  children  of  Joseph  and  Betsy  ( King)  Jewett  were  as  follows : 
Betsy,  born  November  20,  1790;  Sally,  born  December  25,  1792; 
Lydia,  born  December  26.  1794:  Ann,  born  October  19,  1796; 
Eleazer,  born  Tanuarv  11,  1799;  Henry,  born  April  2,  1801  ;   Joseph 


JOSEPH    JEWETT    HOME,    LISBON. 


R.,  born  December  18,  1802;  Thomas  M.,  born  September  30,  1! 
and  Charles,  born  September  5,  1807.  The  last  was  the  well-known 
temperance  lecturer  and  advocate,  a  full  account  of  whose  life  can  be 
found  in  W.  M.  Thayer's  book  entitled  "Life  and  Recollections  of 
Charles  Jewett."  We  are  kindly  permitted  to  print  his  photograph 
and  his  old  homestead. 


Elizabeth  Clement,  a  daughter  of  Jeremiah  and  Mary  Mosely 
Clement,  married,  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  December  15,  1776,  David 
Breed,  of  Norwich,  and  after  his  death  she  became  the  second  wife  of 


DR.  CHAS.  JEWETT. 


57 

Rev.  Aaron  Cleaveland.  Their  daughter,  Abiah  Hyde  Cleaveland, 
became  the  first  wife  of  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  and  the 
mother  of  Right  Rev.  Arthur  Cleaveland  Cox,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Diocese  of  Western  New  York. 


Eunice,  the  oldest  daughter  of  Rev.  Andree  Lee,  D.D.,  and  his 
wife,  Eunice  Hall  Lee,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  October  26, 
1769.  and  married,  January  21,  1796,  Rev.  Asa  Witter,  born  in 
Preston,  1766.  The  earliest  known  persons  by  that  name  were  at 
Lynn,  Mass.,  in  1650:  Ebenezer  Witter,  of  Preston,  born  1668,  mar- 
ried May  5,  1693,  Dorothy  Morgan,  a  sister  of  Rev.  Joseph  Morgan, 
who  was  pastor  of  two  churches  in  Greenwich  and  whose  sister, 
Mary,  was  wife  of  the  eldest  Deacon,  Joseph  Perkins,  of  Lisbon. 


Rev.  Asa  Witter,  graduate  Y.  C.  1793;  died  1833;  was  pastor 
of  a  church  in  Wilbraham,  Mass.,  from  1797  to  1814.  He  removed 
to  Canandaigua,  N.  Y.,  1815,  and  subsequently  to  Winchester, 
Tenn.,  where  he  died.  His  oldest  child,  John,  graduate  Y.  C.  1812, 
was  a  tutor  in  18 15- 17  and  a  practitioner  of  medicine  in  Texas, 
where  in   1858  he  died. 


Rev.  Timothy  Allen  was  born  in  Norwich,  Lisbon,  August  31, 
1715;  graduate  Y.  C.  1736;  died  in  Chesterfield,  Mass.,  January 
12,  1806.  He  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  West  Haven,  and  at 
Orange  1738-42,  and  of  the  first  church  of  Ashford  from  1757-64, 
and  that  of  Chesterfield,  Mass.,  1785-96.  He  preached  sometimes  in 
Granville,  Mass.  He  was,  with  his  father,  a  founder  of  the  church 
in  Norwich,  and  became  a  prominent  leader  among  the  so-called 
"New  Lights."  After  he  had  been  dismissed  from  his  church  at 
West  Haven,  he  was  in  New  London  in  1743  at  the  head  of  what 
was  styled  "The  Shepherd's  Tent,"  which  was  instituted  to  teach 
exhorters  and  ministers  and  train  them  for  their  work.  Dr.  Trum- 
bull represents  him  as  "A  man  of  talents  and  strict  morals  and  as 
earnest  and  effective  in  preaching."  He  married,  first,  Mary  Bishop, 
and  his  second  wife  was  Dorothy  Gallup,  a  widow  of  John  Read. 
His  grandson.  Rev.  Jacob  Allen,  born  August  18,  1781,  in  Preston, 
was  an  earnest  and  instructive  preacher. 


Clarissa  Huntington,  born  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  May  3,  1791, 
eldest  daughter  of  Deacon  Barnabas  (Perkins)  Huntington,  mar- 
ried Martin  Bottom ;  they  had  a  son,  Martin,  born  December  2, 
1810.  She  married  a  second  time,  on  April  20,  1820,  Dr.  Rufus 
Smith,  a  physician  of  Griswold,  and  afterwards  in  Hanover,  who. 


58 

from  1838  to  1845,  was  a^so  pastor  of  the  church  in  Easthampton. 
One  of  their  children,  Rufus,  horn  September  17,  1821,  graduate  Y. 
C.  1846  and  died  1847. 


Dr.  Walter  Burnham,  a  son  of  Capt.  Benjamin  and  of  Mrs. 
Jemima  (Perkins)  Burnham,  was  born  at  Newent,  Lisbon,  Feb- 
ruary, 1762,  and  died  September  6,  1834.  He  practised  medicine 
in  Brookfield,  Vt.  He  married,  first,  in  1792,  Submit  Smith,  of 
Northfield,  Mass.,  who  died  June  26,  1826,  and  he  married  again 
in  April,  1829,  a  widow  Peck.  He  had  two  sons,  of  which  the  elder, 
Zebulon  Burnham,  M.D.,  born  1796,  died  1861,  was  a  physician  of 
good  repute.  The  younger  son,  Walter  Burnham,  M.D.,  born  1808, 
was  a* resident  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  Professor  of  Surgery  in  the  Wor- 
cester Medical  Institute,  1850-60,  and  a  surgeon  in  the  Sixth  Massa- 
chusetts Regiment  of  the  IL  S.  V.  A.  from   1862  to   1863. 

A  brother  of  Dr.  Walter  Burnham,  Sr.,  was  Zebulon  Perkins 
Burnham,  born  1766;  died  1810;  a  prominent  shipmaster  and  mer- 
chant of  Norwich. 


Josiah  Read  deserves  mention  as  being  probably  the  earliest 
white  settler  in  what  was  then  called  the  crotch  of  the  rivers  She- 
tucket  and  Ouinabaug,  later  known  as  Newent  and  now  Lisbon. 
This  was  in  1687.  He  died  July  3,  17 17.  The  estate  of  said  Josiah 
Read,  in  Lisbon,  has  from  his  death  till  this  time  been  in  the  pos- 
session of  his  descendants. 


Jerusha  Perkins,  born  September  1,  171 1,  a  daughter  of  Deacon 
Joseph  and  Mrs.  Martha  Morgan  Perkins,  of  Norwich,  Lisbon, 
married  July  17,  1733,  Rev.  Jedediah  Hyde,  who  died  1761.  He 
was  pastor  of  a  Separatist  church  at  "Bean  Hill,"  Norwich,  from 

1747  to  1757. 


Rev.  Horace  Bushnell,  born  in  Hanover,  Lisbon.  November 
20,  1802,  was  the  youngest  but  one  of  the  eleven  children  of  Mr. 
Jason  and  Mrs.  Hannah  (Kirkland)  Bushnell.  The  earliest  Bush- 
nells  in  this  country  were  at  Salem,  Mass.,  1637-39.  Horace  Bush- 
nell united  with  the  Congregational  church  at  Rome,  N.  Y.,  in  1826, 
was  a  student  of  the  Oneida  Co.  Institute  1826-30,  and  was  for 
two  years  a  teacher  in  the  class  department  of  Lane  Seminary, 
Ohio.  He  received  license  to  preach  at  Cincinnati  October  14,  1831. 
He  gathered  the  Storrs  Congregational  church  in  that  city  in  1832 
and  labored  there  for  a  long  time.  He  married,  at  Hanover,  Lisbon, 
June  17,  1832,  Caroline  Hastings.  Their  only  son,  Horace,  Jr., 
was  educated  at  Farmer's  College,  Ohio,  T859,  and  at  Lane  Seminary, 
1862,  and  was  pastor  at  a  church  in  Southport,  Ind.,  afterwards. 


59 

Louisa  Kirkland  Bushnell,  horn  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  in  1791, 
was  a  sister  of  Rev.  Horace  Bushnell.  She  married  Agrippa  S. 
Martin,  of  New  Jersey.  Their  son,  Rev.  Charles  Finney  Martin, 
was  for  some  years  a  missionary  of  the  A.  M.  S.  to  the  Copts  in 
Egypt  in  1859;  afterwards  became  pastor  of  a  church  in  Peru.  111., 
and  in  the  service  of  the  Christian  Commission,  at  Xashville,  Term., 
and  died  there  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion. 


William  Fitch  Bushnell,  a  brother  of  Rev.  Horace  Bushnell, 
married,  in  Hanover,  Lisbon,  April  3,  181 5,  Jane  Corning  Parish. 
He  was  born  in  Lisbon  1794.  They  removed  soon  after  marriage  to 
Rome,  N.  Y.  Their  oldest  son,  Andrew  Lee  Bushnell,  M.D.,  was  a 
physician  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Their  second  son,  Albert  Bushnell,  born  1818,  studied  at  Ober- 
lin,  Ohio;  graduated  at  Lane  Seminary  1843,  anc^  soon  joined  the 
Gaboon  Mission  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  in  Western  Africa,  where 
he  had  a  loner  service. 


Rev.  Xathan  Lynde  Lord,  M.D.,  born  December  8,  1821,  grad- 
uate W.  R.  C.  O.  1847;  cued  m  ^Tew  York,  January  23,  1868.  He 
pursued  his  studies  in  the  theological  department  of  the  W.  R. 
College  and  was  ordained  in  Hudson,  Ohio,  October  12,  1852.  He 
was  in  1853-60  at  Oodoopitty,  Ceylon,  and  1863-7 — having  studied 
medicine  while  on  a  visit  to  America — was  at  Madua,  East  India, 
a  missionary  and  physician  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  He  married, 
at   Stowe,  Vt.,   August   11,    1850,   Laura   Weld   Delano. 


Rev.  Amos  Read,  youngest  child  of  Joseph  and  Mrs.  Thankful 
(Andrew)  Read,  was  born  in  Newent,  Lisbon,  March  25,  1756,  and 
died  in  Lisbon,  November  2,  1838.  He  was,  as  a  minister  of  the 
Baptist  denomination,  employed  by  churches  in  the  vicinity  of 
his  homestead.  He  married,  first,  July  9,  1778,  at  Scituate,  R.  I., 
Mary  Bennett,  who  died  January  11,  1831  ;  he  married,  second,  in 
Lisbon,  June  28,  1831.  Amelia  Wales  Palmer,  who  died  January  24, 
1847.    Of  the  eleven  children  of  Amos  Read  were   Lydia,  born  July 

2/,  1790,  who  married  Rev.  Oliver  Tuttle  ;   [ ]  Caleb  Read,  a  son, 

born  Lisbon,  November  24,  1780,  who  became  a  minister  of  the  Bap- 
tist denomination  and  a  resident  in  Brookfield  N.  Y.,and  in  Germania, 
N.  Y.,  1805  to  1809,  and  in  Lisbon  in  1810  to  1816,  and  later  in  Col- 
chester and  in  Griswold.  He  married,  in  Montville,  September  6, 
1804,  Mary  Leffingwell,  and  their  son  Caleb  was  a  Baptist  minister, 
as  also  their  son  Hiram,  who  was  a  missionary  in  New  Mexico.  Rev. 
Levi  Read,  third  son  of  Rev.  Amos  Read,  was  born  in  Newent, 
Lisbon,  March  16,  1783,  and  died  there  January  21,   1872;  he  mar- 


6o 

ried  in  Brookfield,  N.  Y.,  1817,  Elley  Potter.  Of  his  children 
are  Charles  B.  Read,  a  Baptist  minister,  and  a  Daniel  Read,  LL.D., 
who  has  been  a  president  of  Shurtleff  College  and  has  lived  at  Law- 
rence, Kan.  Rev.  James  Read,  son  of  Rev.  Amos  Read,  was  born 
in  Lisbon,  September  8,  1793,  and  has  been  a  Baptist  minister. 


David,  son  of  Deacon  Andrew  Tracy,  married,  in  Newent,  Lis- 
bon, March  20,  1806,  Sally  Gorton.  Their  son,  Rev.  William  Tracy, 
D.D.,  born  in  Norwich,  June  2,  1807,  studied  at  Andover,  Mass.,  and 
at  Princeton,  N.  J. ;  has  been  since  1836  a  missionary  of  the  A.  B.  C. 
F.  M.,  at  Madura,  East  Indies,  to  1872,  and  then  at  Timpavanum, 
and  there  he  died  in  November,  1877. 


Albert  L.  Tracy,  oldest  son  of  Deacon  Freeman  Tracy,  of 
Newent,  Lisbon,  and  only  child  of  Mrs.  Charity  Lathrop,  his  first 
wife,  married,  in  Griswold,  March  10,  1825,  Harriet  Burch.  Their 
son,  Rev.  Thomas  Tracy,  was  a  graduate  Hanover  College,  Ind., 
1864,  and  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  in  1867. 
Has  since  1868  been  a  missionary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Missions  in  Northern  India. 


Hon.  William  Bishop,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  was  born  in  Lisbon, 
1803  ;  a  son  of  Capt.  Samuel  Bishop  and  of  his  wife,  Mrs.  Lucy 
(Lord)  Bishop.  He  has  a  son,  a  clergyman,  George  Sayles  Bishop, 
D.D.,  graduate  A.  C.  1858,  who  has  been  a  pastor  in  Newburgh, 
N.  Y.,  and  now  has  been  pastor  for  more  than  a  score  of  years 
at  East  Orange,  N.  J.  He  has  served  as  Moderator  of  the  Organ- 
ized Synod  of  that  locality.  He  was  chosen  "Yedder  Lecturer" 
before  the  college  and  seminary  of  New  Brunswick  in  1884,  and 
has  been  three  times  a  delegate  to  the  Pan-Presbyterian  Council. 
Of  his  two  sons,  one,  Rev.  William  S.  Bishop,  is  curate  at  St.  John's 
Chapel,  New  York,  a  graduate  of  Rutgers  College  and  of  the 
General  Theological  Seminary,  New  York.  Another  son,  a  grad- 
uate of  Princeton,  N.   I.,  is  a  teacher  in  New  York  Citv. 


Rev.  William  Hyde  was  born  in  Griswold,  June  25,  1805. 
His  parents  moved  to  Lisbon  with  him  soon  after  his  birth.  He 
was  a  son  of  Joel  Hyde  and  his  wife,  Mary  (Belcher)  Hyde.  He 
graduated  A.  C.  1829,  studied  theology  at  Andover  Seminary  1829- 
32,  and  was  ordained  pastor  of  a  church  at  Yorktown,  N.  Y., 
June  2,  1833.  Then  pastor  of  a  church  at  Westbrook,  June  2^,  1838, 
till   1854.     In  1864  acting  pastor  at  Lynne  till  his  death,   December 


6i 


19,  1874.  He  married  Martha  Belcher  and  had  eight  children.  The 
third  child,  Joel  Wilbur  Hyde,  born  March  20,  1839,  received  from 
Y.  C.  1861  the  degree  of  M.D. 


Sarah  Benedict,  oldest  daughter  of  Joel  Benedict,  D.D.,  and  his 
wife,  Mrs.  Sarah  (McKown)  Benedict,  was  born  in  Xewent,  Lisbon, 
August  28,  1774.  She  married,  July  4,  1796,  Rev.  Eliphalet  Nott, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  who  was  born  at  Ashford,  June  25,  1773,  and  died 
January  29,  1866.  He  studied  theology  with  Rev.  Dr.  Benedict 
(before  mentioned)  ;  was  a  Presbyterian  pastor  at  Cherry  Valley, 
N.  Y.,  and  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  from  1804  till  his  decease  Presi- 
dent of  Union  College.  Of  their  four  children,  one,  Hon.  Joel  B. 
Nott,  of  Guilderland,  N.  Y.,  graduate  U.  C.  1817,  was  the  father 
of  Hon.  Charles  Cooper  Xott,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  who  graduated 
U.  C.  1848,  and  was  a  Justice  of  the  U.  S.  Court  of  Claims;  and 
another  son  was  Rev.  John  Xott,  D.D.,  of  Fonda,  N.  Y.  The 
youngest  son,  Hon.  Beniamin  Xott,  graduate  U.  C.  1823,  lived  in 
Albany,  X.  Y. 

The  only  daughter  of  Eliphalet  Xott  was  Sarah  Maria,  who  died 
in  1839.  She  had  married,  April,  1824,  Rt.  Rev.  Alonzo  Potter, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  who  graduated  U.  C.  1818,  and  died  1865.  He  was 
professor  in  U.  C.  from  1831  to  1845,  and  afterwards  a  Bishop 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Diocese  of  the  P.  E.  church.  He  married, 
second,  Sarah,  a  daughter  of  Robert  Benedict,  born  in  Lisbon  July 
11,  1776,  and  who  has  resided  at  Richfield  Springs,  N.  Y.  A  record, 
speaking  of  the  ten  children  of  Bishop  Alonzo  Potter  and  Mrs. 
Sarah  Maria  (Nott)  Potter,  about  twenty  years  ago,  when  they 
were  all  living,  speaks  of  Hon.  Clarkson  Nott  Potter,  of  New  York, 
graduate  U.  C.  1842,  a  lawyer  and  a  Member  of  Congress  from 
1869  to  1875  ;  also  Howard  Potter,  of  New  York,  graduate  U.  C. 
1846,  a  member  of  the  New  York  State  Board  of  Commissioners 
of  Charities;  and  Robert  Brown  Potter,  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  Major 
General  of  U.  S.  V.  A.,  Ninth  Army  Corps,  and  Edward  Tuckerman 
Potter,  of  Xew  York  City,  who  graduated  U.  C.  1853,  and  Rev. 
Henry  Codman  Potter,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  New  York  City,  and  Rev. 
Eliphalet  Xott  Potter,  D.D.,  graduate  U.  C.  1861,  President  of  Union 
College,  and  William  Appleton  Potter,  of  Xew  York,  graduate  U. 
C.   1864. 

Rev.  Philo  Judson,  born  in  W^oodbury,  January  14,  1784;  died 
in  Hartford,  March  11,  1874,  having  studied  theology  under  Rev. 
Azel  Backus,  he  was  pastor  of  the  first  church  in  Ashford  from 
181 1  to  1833,  and  pastor  of  the  second  church  in  Hanover,  Lisbon, 
from  June,  1833,  to  July,  1834,  and  of  the  church  in  Willimantic 
from  1834  to  1839,  and  acting  pastor  of  first  church  in  Middle 
Haddam  in  1846  to  1847,  an^  from  1848  and  onward  he  resided  at 
Rocky  Hill ;  he  was  much  engaged  in  revival  work ;  he  possessed 
a  fervent,  earnest  spirit. 


62 

Samuel  Coit  Morgan,  graduate  Y.  C.  1812,  was  a  son  of  Capt. 
Elisha  and  Mrs.  Olive  (Coit)  Morgan;  was  born  in  Lisbon,  August, 
1789;  died  in  Norwich  September  11,  1876.  He  was  a  lawyer, 
residing,  in  1816  to  1842,  in  Jewett  City,  and  afterwards  a  resident 
in  Norwich  ;  was  President  of  the  Quinabaug  Bank  from  1842  to 
i860.  He  married,  September  1,  1816,  Maria  B.,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Edward  Porter,  of  Farmington.  Married,  second,  November  26, 
1849,  Frances  A.,  daughter  of  Gen.  Moses  Cleveland,  of  Canterbury, 
and  third  married,  June  12,  1861,  Mary  Cook,  daughter  of  Dr.  John 
C.  Tibbets.  He  had  no  children.  At  his  death  he  bequeathed  con- 
siderable sums  to  various  benevolent  societies. 


Joshua  Bishop. — A  short  but  influential  life  sometimes  out- 
reaches  in  wide  results  one  of  length  of  days.  Joshua  Bishop, 
son  of  Capt.  Reuben  and  Abigail  Bishop,  born  April  19,  1814;  with 
hardly  an  average  common-school  education,  when  about  twenty 
years  old,  found  himself  located  in  New  York  City.  Through  social 
acquaintance  and  church  connection,  he  came  in  contact  with  those 
philanthropists  and  pioneer  Abolitionists,  Lewis  and  Arthur  Tappan, 
and  as  they  in  New  York,  so  did  he  in  Lisbon  circulate  the  anti- 
slaverv  literature  of  that  period,  which  made  lifelong  Abolitionists 
of  thousands  of  those  who  lived  to  rejoice  when  emancipation  was 
accomplished  by  the  pen  of  President  Lincoln. 

This  same  young  man,  who  had  but  a  little  over  half  a  dozen 
years  of  active  life  left  for  him  to  live,  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Dr.  John  Burdell,  a  prominent  and  eminent  dentist,  who  influenced 
him  to  study  for  the  profession  of  dentistry.  At  this  time  the  text 
books  on  dentistry  were  mostly  in  French  and  German.  He,  with  re- 
markable insight,  foresaw,  as  he  studied  the  great  importance  of  this 
profession  to  the  human  race,  its  possibilities  and  the  aptitude  of 
the  Americans  to  take  the  lead  in  its  future  development  and  make 
it,  as  they  have,  essentially  an  American  profession.  Not  a  large 
city  in  the  world  to-day  but  has  its  American  dentist  honored  abroad, 
as  at  home.  The  profession  of  dentistry  has  the  credit  of  discovering 
anaesthetics,  that  invaluable  boon  to  suffering  mankind.  Mr.  Chip- 
man,  in  searching  the  records  of  Lisbon's  professional  men,  reports 
four  dentists.  This  Joshua  Bishop,  who  was  undeniably  the  first 
to  enter  the  profession  from  Lisbon,  and  who  practiced  in  New  York 
City  and  in  the  West  Indies,  was  influential  in  having  at  least  five 
followers  from  Lisbon,  three  of  whom  were  his  own  brothers. 


63 


CAPTAIN    BURNHAM  S    INN 


This  old  stage  tavern  or  inn,  was  kept  for  a  long  time  by  Capt.  Benj.  Burnham, 
who  built  the  present  house  on  an  old  tavern  site.  It  was  kept  later  by  Capt.  Reuben. 
Bishop,  father  of  the  author,  whose  boyhood  days  were  spent  there;  it  was  a  tavern 
where  the  stage  line  between  Boston  and  New  York  changed  its  horses.  It  was,  at  the 
time  of  the  cholera  scare  in  '32  and  '33,  a  busy  place,  where  daily  three  stages  in  each 
direction  drew  up  their  foaming,  panting  horses  upon  the  front  green,  the  post-horn's 
mellow  tones  having  heralded  their  arrival. 


Historians  of  our  Revolutionary  Strife  are  on  record  as  saying,  "On 
Saturday,  September  3d,  during  the  earlier  struggle  in  the  Revolutionary 
war,  at  4  o'clock,  P.  M.,  an  express  arrived  at  Norwich  from  Col.  Israel 
Putnam  ( whose  home  was  not  many  miles  from  that  locality)  that  Boston 
had  been  attacked  the  night  before  and  six  of  the  citizens  killed.  This  was 
but  a  rumor,  but  it  caused  the  greatest  consternation. 

The  citizens  of  Norwich  assembled  about  their  liberty  tree,  then  ad- 
journed to  the  Court  House  and  resolved  to  dispatch  an  express  to  Provi- 
dence to  learn  the  truth  of  the  report. 

David  Nevins  volunteered  on  this  service,  as  he  had  on  many  similar 
occasions,  and  departed  at  eight  o'clock  P.  M.  On  Sunday  morning  464 
men,  well  equipped,  and  the  greater  part  mounted  on  good  horses,  had 
already  started  for  Boston,  under  command  of  Mai.  John  Durkee,  and  ren- 
dezvoused at  Capt.  Burnham's  Inn,  seven  miles  from  Norwich  Court  House, 
where  they,  at  eleven  o'clock  A.  M.,  were  met  by  the  return  of  Mr.  Nevins 
with  information  that  the  report  was  not  true,  whereupon  they  dispersed." 


CHAPTER   V. 


Having  thus  recorded  a  long  list  of  the  many  distinguished 
persons  of  Lisbon,  the  writer  feels  sure  he  has  omitted  many  others 
equally  deserving  of  notice,  which  should  find  place  in  Lisbon's 
history ;  but  it  is  quite  impossible  to  get  full  and  reliable  records  of 
prominent  men  who  have  left  Lisbon  for  other  fields  of  activity. 
There  are  over  thirty  persons  whose  names  are  on  record  as  grad- 
uates of  Yale  College  from  Lisbon.  Then  Union  College.  N.  Y., 
Harvard,  Dartmouth,  Williams,  Amherst,  Middlebury,  Western 
Reserve  and  Oberlin  Colleges,  who  have  also  had  Lisbon  boys  to 
educate. 


In  a  list  of  ministers  originating  in  Lisbon,  Rev.  Mr.  Chipman 
gave  the  names  of  thirty-three  who  had  become  ministers  up  to  1873. 
There  are  doubtless  many  more  than  this  number.  They  have  been 
distributed  among  the  several  denominations  and  some  of  them 
have  become  missionaries   to  other  countries. 


In  a  list  of  doctors  or  physicians,  Rev.  Mr.  Chipman  records 
the  names  of  forty-one,  who  up  to  the  time  of  his  report — 1873 — 
were  in  or  from  Lisbon. 


LTST  OF  SOLDIERS 


Inhabitants  or  natives  of  Lisbon,  who  served  in  the  "Continen- 
tal Army"  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  were : 

Bartlett  Bingham,  died   1777. 
Lemuel   Bingham,   died   1776. 
Elijah  Bishop,  died   1776. 
Reuben  Bishop,  died  1775. 
Darius  Bottom,  died  1775. 
Amos  Brewster,  died   1777. 
Ephraim  Durfy,  died   1777. 
Daniel  Fitch,  died 
Capt.   Ziba  Hunt,  died 
Adonijah  Kingsley,  died    1777. 


65 

Lieut.   Nathaniel  Kirkland,  killed  October   12,   1777. 

Dr.  Jonathan   Knight    (a   surgeon). 

Dr.  Abijah  Perkins  (a  surgeon),  died  August  31,  1782. 

Capt.  Ebenezer  Perkins. 

Capt.   Jacob    Perkins,   Jr. 

Capt.  Joseph  Perkins,  Jr. 

Lieut.  Simon  Perkins,  killed  September  3,    1778. 

Rev.  Andrew  Lee   (Chaplain). 

Capt.  Samuel  Lovett. 

Rev.  Peter  Powers,  died  1776. 

Daniel  Preston. 

Asa   Rathbun. 

Capt.   Moses   Stevens. 

Ensign    Andrew    Tracy. 

Capt.  Ames  Walbridge. 

George   Whitchell,   died    1777. 

The  above  dates  of  death  ante-date  the  close  of  the  struggle. 
Reuben  Bishop,  the  writer's  great-grandfather,  died  in  the  cam- 
paign of  Arnold  towards  Quebec,  which  was  before  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  The  list  above  of  those  serving  in  the  War  of  the 
Revolution  is  by  no  means  a  full  one  of  those  from  Lisbon's  territory. 


Soldiers  from  Lisbon  who  served  in  the  war  with  England, 
1812  to  1815  : 

Capt.  Freeman  Tracy,  of  Newent,  and  Capt.  Charles  Perkins, 
of  Hanover,  were,  with  their  respective  companies,  in  active  service 
at  Stonington,  Xew  London,  and  vicinity  when  Stonington  was 
assaulted  by  a  British  force  in  1812.  In  said  companies  are  said 
to  have  been  the  persons  below  named : 

Asa  Witter  Allen,  who  removed  to  Salem,  Ohio,  from  Lisbon. 
Evander  Fuller,  who  died  September   18,   1873. 
Josiah    Kean    ( Kaine  ? ) . 
Zephaniah  Simpson. 
Simon  Lathrop,  etc. 

During  this  war  of  three  years,  which  was  mostly  a  warfare 
of  naval  attacks  upon  our  coast,  the  military  companies  were  fre- 
quently called  upon  to  come  to  the  defence  of  the  coast  along  New 
London  County.  Lisbon  several  times  marched  her  companies  to 
the  points  of  danger.  Capt.  Roswell  Adams,  with  his  company, 
had  this  experience,  as  well  as  Capt.  Tracy  and  Capt.  Perkins. 
Reuben  Bishop,  afterwards  made  a  Captain  of  a  Lisbon  company, 
was  there,  and  often  related  his  experience  to  his  children,  of  whom 
the  writer  was  one.  There  were  three  companies  marched  from  Lis- 
bon whose  officers  and  men  must  have  enrolled  more  than  one  hun- 
dred men  in  this  service. 


66 

A  list  of  seamen,  natives  of  Lisbon,  who  were  engaged  in  the 
Revolutionary  War : 

Capt.  Oliver  Arnold,  brother  of  the  traitor  Benedict  Arnold. 

Oliver  Arnold,  Jr.  Adonijah   Knight. 

Capt.  Ezra  Bishop.  Capt.  Elisha  Lathrop. 

David  Bottom.  •    Capt.  Robert  McKown. 

Aaron  Burnham.  Jacob  Perkins. 

Capt.  Zebulon  Perkins  Burnham.  Samuel  Perkins. 

Comfort  Eames.  Capt.  Zebulon  Perkins. 

Cyrus  Eames.  Thomas  Todd. 

Gideon  Eames.  James  W.  Watson. 

Capt.  Rufus  Eames.  Asa  Williams. 


LIST  OF  SOLDIERS  FURNISHED  BY  LISBON  IN  THE 
WAR  OF  THE  REBELLION  : 

Patrick   Sullivan,    First    Connecticut    Regiment. 

John  W.  Cutler,  Second  Connecticut  Regiment. 

John  H.  Wilcox,  Second  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Eugene  Branch,  Second  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Charles  H.  Corey.  Fifth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

William  D.  Spicer,  Fifth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Henry  D.  Frisby,  Sixth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

John  Sullivan,  Seventh  Connecticut  Regiment. 

John    Carroll,    Eighth    Connecticut    Regiment. 

Ezra  N.  Barber,  Eleventh  Connecticut  Regiment. 

George  Snow,  Twelfth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Gilbert  A.  Davis,  Twelfth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Elijah   I.    Green,   Twelfth   Connecticut    Regiment. 

John    Black,   Twelfth   Connecticut    Regiment. 

William  J.  Morehead,  Fourteenth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Henry  A.  Bingham,  Eighteenth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Eli  Jackson,    Twenty-first   Connecticut   Regiment. 

Austin  Fitzgerald,  Twenty-first  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Asa  Belknap,  Twenty-first    Connecticut  Regiment. 

Andrew  J.  Willett,  Twenty-sixth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Elisha  N.   Green,  Twenty-sixth   Connecticut   Regiment. 

Caleb  T.  Bishop,  Twenty-sixth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

George  A.  Haskell,  Twenty-sixth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Amos  Palmer,  Twenty-sixth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Horace  A.  Palmer.  Twenty-sixth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

William  A.  Palmer,  Twenty-sixth  Connecticut  Regiment: 

Albert  M.  Rathbun,  Twenty-sixth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Henry   West,   Twenty-ninth    Connecticut   Regiment. 

William  Wilson,  Twenty-ninth   Connecticut  Regiment. 

William  H.  Boyer,  Twenty-ninth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Cyrus  York,  Twenty-ninth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Peter  Brooker,  Twenty-ninth  Connecticut  Regiment. 

Isaac    Wilson,    Thirtieth    Connecticut    Regiment. 

The  regimental  rolls  show  a  very  much  larger  number  of  en- 
listed men  in  this  war. 


67 

CENSUS  RETURNS. 

In  1 774,  twelve  years  before  Norwich  was  divided,  there  were 
in  Newent  Parish  ninety-two  dwelling-  houses,  ninety-eight  families, 
and  six  hundred  and  forty-one  persons.  In  Hanover  Parish  forty- 
four  houses,  fifty-three  families,  and  three  hundred  and  twenty -three 
persons.  Total  of  inhabitants  in  both  the  parishes  then,  nine  hun- 
dred and  sixty-four.  While  these  parishes  remained  together  as 
parts  of  Lisbon,  their  population  was  returned  by  the  Census 
Bureau,  in 

1800 1 ,1 58      i860 1,262 

1810 1,128      1870. 502 

1830 1,161      1880 630 

1840 1 ,052      1 890 548 

1850 938      1900 697 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTIONS. 

Of  Constitutional  State  Conventions  Connecticut  has  convened 
but  three,  viz.,  1788,  1818,  1902.  The  first  was  called  to  ratify  the 
Constitution  of  the  LTnited  States  in  1788.  Rev.  Andrew  Lee  was 
chosen  and  sent  as  a  Delegate  from  Lisbon.  The  second,  called  in 
1818,  was  to  form  a  State  Constitution  for  Connecticut.  Daniel 
Braman  was  sent  as  a  Delegate  from  Lisbon.  The  third,  called  in 
1902,  was  for  consideration  of  proposed  changes  to  the  State  Con- 
stitution, wherein  measures  were  discussed  still  undecided.  Calvin 
Duane  Bromlev  was  chosen  as  Delegate  from  Lisbon. 


LISBON'S  LEGISLATORS. 

Members  of  the  State  Senate  of  Connecticut.     (The  first  named 
was  an  early  resident,  the  others  were  natives  of  Lisbon)  : 

Ashur  Palmer  Brown,  Etban  Allen, 

Calvin  Barstow  Bromley,  Jeremiah  Kinsman  Adams, 

Thomas  Clark. 


Members  of   Congress,   natives   of  Lisbon : 
Elias    Perkins,  John    Lovett,  Joseph    Kirkland. 


Representatives  from  Lisbon  in  the  Connecticut  Legislature, 
those  included  who,  before  Lisbon  was  incorporated,  pertained  to 
the  Newent,  Lisbon,  part  of  Norwich : 

May  Session.  October  Session. 

1720 —  Jabez  Perkins. 

1722 — Jabez  Perkins.  Jabez  Perkins. 

1723 — Jabez   Perkins. 


68 


May  Session. 

1728— 

1757— 
1758- 

1768 — Elisha  Lathrop. 
1782 — Samuel  Lovett. 
1783 — Elisha  Lathrop. 
1 784 — Elisha  Lathrop. 
1785 — Elisha  Lathrop. 
1786 — Elisha  Lathrop. 
1787 — Elisha  Lathrop. 
1788 — John  Perkins. 

789 — Jacob  Perkins. 

790 — Ezra  Bishop. 

791 — John   Perkins. 

792 — Samuel  Lovett. 

793 — Samuel  Lovett. 

794 — Samuel  Lovett. 

795 — Samuel  Lovett. 

796 — Levi   Perkins. 

797 — Levi   Perkins. 

798 — John  Kinsman. 

799 — John  Kinsman. 

800 — Luther   Manning. 

801 — Joshua  Perkins. 

802 — Ezra  Bishop. 

803 — David  Hale. 

804 — Joshua  Perkins. 

805 — Daniel  Braman. 

806 — Barnabas  Huntington. 

807 — Daniel  Braman. 

808 — Levi  Perkins. 

809 — William  Adams. 

810 — Levi  Perkins. 

811 — William  Adams. 

812 — Levi   Perkins. 

813 — Freeman  Tracy. 

814 — Levi   Perkins. 

815 — Freeman  Tracy. 

816 — Levi    Perkins. 

817 — Freeman  Tracy. 

818 — Frederick  Perkins. 


bu 


October  Session. 

Jabez  Perkins. 
John  Perkins. 
John  Perkins. 

Elisha  Lathrop. 
Elisha  Lathrop. 
Elisha  Lathrop. 
Elisha  Lathrop. 
Elisha  Lathrop. 
John  Perkins. 
Jacob   Perkins. 
Joshua  Perkins. 
Ezra    Bishop. 
Ezra    Bishop. 
Samuel  Lovett. 
Samuel  Lovett. 
Elisha  Morgan. 
Levi  Perkins.. 
Levi  Perkins. 
John  Kinsman. 
Luther  Manning. 
Luther  Manning. 
Samuel  Lovett. 
Joshua  Perkins. 
Joshua  Perkins. 
Septimius   Lathrop. 
Joshua  Perkins. 
Daniel  Braman. 
Barnabas  Huntington. 
Daniel  Braman. 
Levi   Perkins. 

Levi   Perkins. 
William    Adams. 
Levi   Perkins. 
Freeman  Tracy. 
Levi   Perkins. 
Freeman  Tracy. 
Levi    Perkins. 
Frederick  Perkins. 
Joseph  L.  Lyon. 


Since   1818,  under  the  new   Constitution,  there  has  been  held 
one  session  a  year. 


819 — Thomas  Kinsman. 
820 — Joseph  Jewett. 
821 — Tyler  Brown. 


1822 — Tyler  Brown. 
1823 — Joseph  L.  Lyon. 
1824 — Andrew  Clark. 


69 


1825 — Samuel    Peckham. 
1826 — Barzillai   Bishop. 
1827 — Elisha  Morgan. 
1828 — Roswell  Adams. 
1829, — John  Gray. 
1830 — John   Gray. 
1 83 1 — Jared  Farnham. 
1832 — Bucklin   Mathewson. 
1833 — Bucklin   Mathewson. 
1834 — Ebenezer  Allen. 
1835 — James   Stetson. 
1836 — Nathan  Brewster. 
1837 — Thomas  A.  Clark. 
1838— Russell    Rose. 
1839 — Daniel  F.  Cutler. 
1840 — Thomas  G.  Read. 
1 841 — Thomas  A.  Clark. 
1842 — Perley  B.  Fuller. 
1843 — Vine  Smith. 
1844 — Henry  R.  Robbins. 
1845 — Thomas  M.  Jewett. 
1846— William  C.  Cutler. 
1847 — Edwin   Kimball. 
1848— Elijah  Rathbun,  Jr. 
1849 — Ebenezer  Lyon. 
1850 — Asher  P.   Brown. 
185 1 — Daniel  M.  Brown. 
1852— William  C.  Cutler. 
1853 — Ezekiel  Bromley. 
1854 — Sanford   Bromley. 
1855 — Edwin  Fitch. 
1856 — Asher  P.  Brown. 
1857 — Norman  Smith. 
1858— Thomas  A.  Clark. 
1859 — Jacob  B.  Bachelder. 
i860 — Nathan  P.  Bishop. 


1 86 1 — Isaac  S.  Geer. 
1862 — George  L.  Haskell. 
1863 — Eleazer  Bushnell. 
1864— Willard  Bliss. 
1865 — Henry  Lyon. 
1866 — Henry  A.  Bennett. 
[867 — George  N.  Carr. 
1868— G.  B.  Hull. 
1869 — Sanford  Bromley. 
1870 — George  L.  Phillips. 
1 87 1 — Russel  Whiting  Fitch. 
1872 — Henry  Lyon. 
1873 — Jonathan  Lester  Lathrop. 
1874 — Henry  G.  Palmer. 
1875 — James  B.  Palmer. 
1876 — James  B.  Palmer. 
1877 — Edwin  Kimball. 
1878— John  F.  Hewett. 
1879 — Edwin  F.  Apple}-. 
1880 — Charles  J.  Bromley. 
1 88 1 — George  Robinson. 
1882 — Augustus  F.  Read. 
1883— Thomas  McCarthy. 
1884— Edward  C.  Hyde. 
1885— John  D.  O'Sullivan. 
1886— Charles  G.   Fitch. 
1887-88 — Cornelius   Murphy. 
1889-90 — George  G.  Young. 
1891-92 — John  G.  Bromley. 
1893-94 — John  G.  Bromley. 
1895-96 — James  E.  Roberts. 
1 897- 1 898 — Charles  B.  Bromley. 
1 899- 1 900 — James  B.  Palmer. 
1 899- 1 900 — James  B.  Palmer. 
1901-02 — Frank  E.  Olds. 
1903-04 — Calvin  D.  Bromley. 


TOWN  CLERKS  OF  LISBON. 


1786 — John  Kinsman. 
1 787- 1 8 1 5 — Jedediah    Burnham. 
1816-28 — Joseph   Jewett. 
1829-35 — Thomas  Kinsman. 
x836-39 — Henry  R.  Robbins. 
1840-42 — Sanford  Bromley. 
1843-47 — Thomas  M.  Jewett. 
1848-50 — Sanford  Bromley. 
1851-52 — Daniel   M.   Brown. 


1853 — Levi  C.  Corning. 
1854-55 — Daniel  M.  Brown. 
1855-60 — Jacob  B.  Bachelder. 
1861-69 — Sanford  Bromley. 
1870 — John  F.  Hewitt. 
1871-92 — Henry  Lyon. 
1892-93 — Frank  E.   Robinson. 
1893-98 — George  G.  Bromley. 
1898 — Calvin  D.  Bromley. 


7o 


Town  Orders  Showing  the  Change  of  Currency  from  Pounds 
and  Shillings  to  Dollars  and  Cents. 


(No.  ^         ) 


Sir, 


Dollars 


PAY  faw-n    /?&>-? &/Lfs7*t 

or  order,  &^   

^ Cents,   out   of  the 

-W  ct^f-     Town  tax,   made  on  the 
lift    -///V#  and  charge  the  Town. 
Lifbon^  stf+nAj*  W 
/(/  dollars'    ##    cents- 


Jyltrrs?  Su^^Jt^Z <&~ 


-£ 


^tyV-4*. 


'& 


^ 


tlstyl 


a 

— i 

03 


/ 


*"***"  Town-Treafurer. 


7i 


l*  laTvfal  wioTieu,  oat  of ih%2  &*J  otvti  iacc ,  made 
4$.  oil  the  Hit  /y$  §1  a/nd cnarat  the  <Jo?v?i. 


72 


I  (N0.72.     ) 

I         PAYi^~-^  &*»^£ 

Cor  order,    ^Wi^>^  -  ~^ Dollars 

3*  CPnnro,   out   of  the 

fe  5  %C%0l^~z'~^'  Town  tax,   made  on  the 
£  lift  7/^f     and  charge  the  Town* 

4        /^  dollars    g^&    cents 


$i&sr>*ys/^  j*sf*rt&<£*ZZ, 


slff 


a 

a 


l/U/f^tO  &  ridfautii  y$j 


J 


1> 


|  To^^^^^^^^^-Town-Treafurer, 


73 


Tax  Collector's  Advertisement  of  1825. 


NOTICE. 

THE  residents  and  non-resi- 
dents liabk  to  pay  taxes  in  the 
town  of  Lisbon,  are  hereby  notified  that 
J  have  received  a  warrant  to  collect  a 
State  Tax  of  one  cent  on  a  dollar,  on 
List  1S24— and  will  meet  them  to  re- 
eive  said  tax  at  the  store  of  Brown  $ 
Baldwin,  in  said  Lisbon,  (JVewent  So- 
ciety) on  Wednesday  the  28th  day  of 
December  instant,  from  1  to  5  o'clock 
P.  M.  and  at  the  house  of  Daniel  F.  Cut- 
ler, in  said  Lisbon,  ( Hanover  Society) 
on  Thursday  the  29th  day  of  December 
instant  from  1  to  5  o'clock  P.  M.— 
Those  who  neglect  to  pay  at  that  time, 
must  expect  to  pay  fees  accord iu«  to 
'aw.  BARaTOW  BRUMLE?r, 

Collector. 
Lisbon.  Dec.  3d,  1825.  3wS6— 


74 

SELECTMEN  OF  LISBON. 

1786,  June  30 — Capt.  Joshua  Perkins,  Capt.  Ezra  Bishop,  Capt.  Sam- 
uel Lovett. 

1786,  December  18 — Capt.  Joshua  Perkins,  Capt.  Ezra  Bishop,  Capt. 
Samuel  Lovett,  John  Bingham,  Capt.  Benjamin  Burnham. 

1787— Capt.  Joshua  Perkins,  Ezra  Bishop,  John  Bingham,  Benjamin 
Burnham. 

1788 — Ezra  Bishop,  Capt.  Joshua  Perkins,  Capt.  Elisha  Morgan. 

1789 — Capt.  Ezra  Bishop,  Capt.  Joshua  Perkins,  Capt.  Elisha  Mor- 
gan, John  Bingham,  Jr. 

1790 — Ezra  Bishop,  Capt.  Joshua  Perkins,  John  Bingham. 

1 791 — Ezra  Bishop,  Dr.  Luther  Manning,  John  Bingham. 

1792 — John  Kinsman,  Major  Ebenezer  Tracy,  Capt.  Levi  Perkins. 

1793 — Capt.  Levi  Perkins,  Ezra  Bishop,  Septimius  Lathrop. 

1794 — Capt.  Levi  Perkins,  Septimius  Lathrop,  Capt.  Samuel  Bishop. 

1795 — Capt.  Levi  Perkins,  Septimius  Lathrop,  Capt.  Samuel  Bishop. 

1796 — Barnabas  Huntington,  William  Adams,  John  Fitch. 

1797 — Barnabas  Huntington,  John  Fitch,  William  Adams. 

1798 — John  Fitch,  William  Adams,  Frederick  Perkins. 

1799 — Ezra  Bishop,   Barnabas  Huntington,   Cyrus   Bishop. 

1800 — Ezra  Bishop,  Barnabas  Huntington,  Col.  Ebenezer  Tracy. 

1801 — Ezra  Bishop,  Barnabas  Huntington,  Col.  Ebenezer  Tracy. 

1802 — Barnabas  Huntington,  Ebenezer  Tracy,  Daniel  Braman. 

1803 — Barnabas  Huntington,  Daniel  Braman,  Septimius  Lathrop. 

1804- — Barnabas  Huntington,  Daniel  Braman,  Septimius  Lathrop. 

1805 — Daniel  Braman,  Capt.  John  Bingham,  William  Adams. 

1806 — Daniel  Braman,  Capt.  John  Bingham,  William  Adams. 

1807 — Capt.  John  Bingham,  Barnabas  Hyde,  Joseph  Jewett. 

1808 — Capt.  John  Bingham,  Barnabas  Hyde,  Joseph  Jewett. 

1809 — Joseph  Jewett,  Barnabas  Huntington,  Major  Freeman  Tracy. 

1810 — Barnabas  Huntington,  Major  Freeman  Tracy.  Thomas  Kins- 
man. 

i8ti — Major  Freeman  Tracy,  Thomas  Kinsman,  Capt.  Frederick- 
Tracy. 

1812 — Thomas  Kinsman,  Levi  Perkins,  Capt.  Andrew  Clark. 

18 13 — Capt.  Andrew  Clark,  Capt.  John  Bingham,  William  Adams. 

1814 — William  Adams,  Daniel  F.  Cutler,  Jeremiah  Tracy. 

1815 — William  Adams,  Daniel  F.  Cutler,  Jeremiah  Tracy. 

1816 — Jeremiah  Tracy,  Tyler  Brown,  Barnabas  Huntington. 

1817 — Daniel  Braman,  Joseph  L.  Lyon,  James  Burnham. 

i8t8 — Daniel  Braman,  Joseph  L.  Lyon,  James  Burnham. 

1819 — Daniel  Braman,  Joseph  L.  Lynn,  Lee  Hyde. 

.1820 — Joseph  L.   Lyon,  James   Burnham,   Amos   Bennett. 

T821 — Joseph  L.  Lyon,  Amos  Bennett,  Freeman  Tracy. 

T822 — Toseph   L.  Lyon,  Amos  Bennett,   Freeman  Tracy. 

1823 — Joseph  L.  Lyon.  Freeman  Tracy,  Amos  Bennett. 

1824 — Freeman  Tricy,  Nathan  Brooks,  Russell  Rose. 

T825 — Nathan  Brooks,  Russell  Rose,  Capt.  Roswell  Adams. 


75 

g26 — Russell  Rose,  Barzillai  Bishop,  Barstovv  Bromley. 
827 — Barstow  Bromley,  Joseph  L.  Lyon,  Samuel  Peckham. 
828 — Samuel  Peckham,  Charles  Bushnell,  John  Gray. 
829 — Charles  Bushnell.  John  Gray,  Russell  Rose. 
830 — Samuel  Peckham,  Charles  Perkins,  James  Stetson. 
831 — Samuel  Peckham,  Charles  Perkins,  James  Stetson. 
832 — James  Stetson,  Bishop  Burnham,  Milton  M.  Perkins. 
833 — James  Stetson,  Bucklin  Mathewson,  Jared  Farnham. 
834 — Bucklin  Mathewson,  Adonijah  Bushnell,  Martin  Warren. 
835 — Vine  Smith,  Thomas  A.  Clark,  Henry  Lathrop. 
836 — Thomas  A.  Clark,  William  Sisson,  Roswell  B.  Downing. 
837 — Roswell  Adams,  Luther  Fuller,  Daniel  B.  Lovett. 
838— Daniel  B.  Lovett,  Perley  B.  Fuller,  Thomas  G.  Read. 
839 — Freeman  Tracy,  Ebenezer  Allen,  Joseph  B.  Hibbard. 
840 — Joseph  B.  Hibbard,  Thomas  A.  Clark,  Vine  Smith. 
841 — Thomas  A.  Clark,  Vine  Smith,  Levi  C.  Corning. 
842 — Henry  R.  Robbins,  John  Grant,  Bishop  Burnham. 
843 — Henry  R.   Robbins,  John  Grant,  Elijah   Rathbun. 
844 — Henry  R.  Robbins,  William  C.  Cutler,  Joseph  B.  Prentice. 
845 — Joseph  B.  Prentice,  William  C.  Cutler,  Ansel  Brown. 
846 — Ansel  Brown,  Chauncey  K.  Bushnell,  Ebenezer  Lyon. 
847 — Ebenezer  Lyon,  Jabez  L.  Benjamin,  George  P.  Harvey. 
848 — Ebenezer  Lyon,  Jabez  L.  Benjamin,  Ezekiel  Bromley. 
849 — Jabez  L.  Benjamin,  Nathan  P.  Bishop,  Levi  P.  Branch. 
850 — Nathan  P.  Bishop,  Squire  B.  Brown,  Asahel  L.  Prentice. 
851 — Jabez  L.  Benjamin,  John  Grant,  Isaac  S.  Geer. 
852 — Jabez  L.  Benjamin,  Isaac  S.  Geer,  Nathan  P.  Bishop. 
853 — Thomas  L.  Read,  Norman  Smith,  Sanford  Bromley. 
854 — Jabez  L.  Benjamin,  Isaac  S.  Geer,  Nathan  P.  Bishop. 
855 — Asher  P.  Brown,  George  J.  Lawton,  Eleazer  Bushnell. 
856 — Asher  P.  Brown,  George  J.  Lawton,  Eleazer  Bushnell. 
857 — George  J.  Lawton,  Eleazer  Bushnell,  Sanford  Bromley. 
858 — Asher  P.  Brown,  Daniel  L.  Lovett,  Henry  Lyon. 
859 — Jabez  L.  Benjamin,  Thomas  F.  Standish,  Jeremiah  K.  Adams. 
860 — Eleazer  Bushnell,  Jeremiah  K.  Adams,  Henry  Lyon. 
861 — Jeremiah  K.  Adams.  George  L.  Haskell,  Benjamin  W.  Pal- 
mer. 
862 — Henry  Lyon,  Benjamin  W.  Palmer,  Samuel  B.  Gardner. 
863 — Samuel   B.  Gardner,  George  N.  Carr,  Charles  Bennett. 
864 — Eleazer  Bushnell,  Charles   Bennett,   Charles  J.   Bromley. 
865 — Eleazer  Bushnell,   Charles  J.   Bromley,   Charles   Bennett. 
866 — Henry  Lyon,  Charles  J.  Bromley,  Charles  Hyde. 
867 — Henry  Lyon,  Charles  J.  Bromley,  Charles  Hyde. 
868 — Henry  Lyon,  Charles  J.  Bromley,  Charles  Hyde. 
869 — Henry  Lyon,  Jeremiah  K.  Adams,  Charles  Hyde. 
870 — Jabez  L.  Benjamin,  Jeremiah  K.  Adams,  Edmund  F.  Tracy. 
871— Eleazer  Bushnell,  Russell  W.  Fitch,  Augustus  F.  Read. 
872 — Eleazer  Bushnell,  Russell  W.  Fitch,  Augustus  F.  Read. 
873 — Thomas  A.  Clark,  Benjamin  G.  Hull,  Eben  F.  Yerrington. 


76 

1874 — John  F-  Hewett,  Jeremiah  K.  Adams,  James  B.  Palmer. 
1875 — Jeremiah  K.  Adams,  Henry  G.  Palmer,  James  B.  Palmer. 
1876 — Henry  G.  Palmer,  Cornelius  Murphy,  Edwin  Kimball. 
1877 — Russell  W.  Fitch,  Cornelius  Murphy,  Edwin  Kimball 
1878 — Jabez  L.  Benjamin,  Russell  W.  Fitch,  George  Robinson. 
1879 — Russell  W.  Fitch,  Charles  J.  Bromley,  George  Robinson. 
1880 — Edward  C.  Hyde,  Charles  J.  Bromley,  George  Robinson. 
1 88 1 — Edward  C.  Hyde,  Russell  W.  Fitch,  James  H.  Kennedy. 
1882 — Russell  W.  Fitch,  Edward  C.  Hyde,  James  H.  Kennedy. 
1883 — Cornelius  Murphy,  Edward  C.  Hyde,  James  H.  Kennedy. 
1884 — Cornelius  Murphy,  Joseph  H.  Giddings,  Daniel  M.  Browne. 
1885 — Cornelius  Murphy,  Russell  W.  Fitch,  Jeremiah  K.  Adams. 
1886 — Russell  W.  Fitch,  Augustus  F.  Read,  James  H.  Kennedy. 
1887 — Augustus  F.  Read,  Thomas  D.  Phillips,  Jeremiah  K.  Adams. 
1888 — Augustus  F.  Read,  Edgar  Wall,  Edward  C.  Hyde. 
1889 — Russell  W.  Fitch,  John  Murphy,  Jeremiah  K.  Adams. 
1890 — Augustus  F.  Read,  George  A.  Ross,  John  G.  Bromley. 
[891 — George  G.  Young,  Jeremiah  K.  Adams,  Charles  E.  Lyon. 
1892 — James  H.  Kennedy,  Charles  B.  Bromley,  James  E.  Roberts. 
1893 — James  H.  Kennedy,  James  E.  Roberts,  Thomas  D.  Phillips. 
1894 — James  H.  Kennedy,  James  E.  Roberts,  Thomas  D.  Phillips. 
1895 — James  H.  Kennedy,  Thomas  D.  Phillips,  Andrew  A.  Adams. 
1896 — James  H.  Kennedy,  Andrew  A.  Adams,  Luther  C.  Gray. 
1897 — Henrv  Lyon,  Michael  J.  Connell,  James  H.  Kennedy. 
1898 — Henry  Lyon,  Andrew  A.  Adams,  Thomas  D.  Phillips. 
1899 — James  H.  Kennedy,  Michael  J.  Connell,  Henry  Lyon. 
1900 — James  H.  Kennedy,  Michael  J.  Connell,  John  Spencer. 
1901 — John  G.  Bromley,  John  Spencer,  Michael  J.  Connell. 
1902 — John  G.  Bromley,  Russell  W.  Fitch,  John  Spencer. 


Before  Lisbon  was  separated  from  Norwich,  Newent  furnished 
for  selectmen  of  Norwich  Joseph  Perkins,  1736,  and  Robert  Kins- 
man,  1725  to   1728,  and  probably  others. 


Authors  and  Editors  whose  Birthplace  was  Lisbon. 

David  Hale,  editor  Journal  of  Commerce,  New  York. 
Eleazer  Lord,  New  York,  writer  on  Prophesy,  etc. 
David  Nevins  Lord,  editor  Literary  and  Theological  Review. 
Charles  Jewett,  poetry,  temperance,  etc. 

Hezekiah  Lord  Read,  editor  of  agricultural  journals,  and  author 
of  works  on  agriculture,  etc. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


A  Record  of  Some  Living  Natives  of  Lisbon   Follows,  with 
a  Few  who  have  Recently  Died. 

Giles  Potter. — On  the  rolls  of  officials  in  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut we  find  Giles  Potter.  He  is  designated  as  agent  of  the  State 
Board  of  Education.  He  was  born  in  Lisbon,  Connecticut.  February 
22,  1829;  son  of  Elisha  Payne  and  Abigail  (Lathrop)  Potter;  of 
good  Puritan  stock.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  class  of 
1855,  and  took  honors  in  mathematics  and  the  sciences.  He  has 
been  in  the  service  of  the  State  for  more  than  thirty  years,  which 
is  a  longer  period  officially  than  that  of  any  person  now  living  in  the 
State.  He  is  sometimes  called  the  State's  Truant  Officer,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  enforce  the  school  laws,  investigating  cases  of  violations 
of  these  enactments,  either  by  parents  or  manufacturers  who  employ 
children  under  age. 

He  now  resides  in  New  Haven,  and  has  about  thirty  towns  in 
Middlesex,  Fairfield  and  New  Haven  counties  under  his  super- 
vision ;  formerly  his  duties  were  over  the  whole  State,  but  the 
increase  of  work  to  accomplish  the  end  desired  has  been  met  by 
a  late  law  making  four  agents  for  the  State  at  the  present  time, 
of  which  he  is  one  and  the  oldest  in  official  service. 

Mr.  Potter  taught  school  at  East  Hartford  and  the  Connecticut 
Literary  Institution  in  Sufheld,  and  at  the  School  Academy  at 
Essex,  where  he  afterwards  made  his  home  for  several  years ;  was 
there  made  deacon  of  his  church,  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  for  twenty-three  years,  and  represented  that  town  in  the 
Legislature  three  terms. 


Elisha  Lathrop  Potter. — In  connection  with  Mr.  Giles  Potter's 
brief  history,  it  is  fitting  that  mention  should  be  made  of  his  brother 
Elisha.  He  was  born  in  Lisbon,  August  5,  1827;  died  in  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  April  21,  1880.  In  that  large  city  of  comparative  strangers 
to  him  he  had  made  his  home  a  few  years  prior  to  his  death.  He  was 
loved  and  appreciated  by  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him,  was 
made  superintendent  of  the  Brooklyn  Sunday-school  Pinion,  and 
his  memoriam  obituary  speaks  of  him  as  a  great  loss  to  his  pastor, 
church  members,  and  Sabbath-school  scholars,  all  of  whom  lamented 
his  untimely  death  with  great  sorrow  and  gave  him  a  public  funeral 
and  a  suitable  monument  to  perpetuate  his  memory. 


78 

Nathan  Lee  Bishop,  son  of  Nathan  Perkins  Bishop  and 
Nancy  Lee,  who  was  a  granddaughter  of  Rev.  Andrew  Lee,  D.D.,was 
born  in  Lisbon,  served  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  over  three  years ; 
enlisting  as  a  private,  he  served  as  a  first  lieutenant  and  adjutant 
of  his  regiment,  and  was  promoted  to  be  a  captain,  but  declined  the 
commission.  He  is  at  present  Superintendent  of  the  Public  Schools 
in  Norwich,  Conn.,  which  official  position  he  has  held  now  nearly 
twenty-five  years  with  great  credit. 


Elijah  Rathbun,  Jr.,  a  highly  esteemed  man  of  Lisbon,  a  self- 
made  man ;  from  his  early  boyhood  he  was  a  farmer,  learned  the 
trade  of  a  mason,  subsequently  became  a  trader  in  produce  at 
Boston  and  Chicago.  His  successful  career  closed  a  few  years 
since  with  ripeness  of  age  and  richness  of  character,  well  illustrated 
in  his  benevolent  interest  in  Christian  work  and  exemplary  life. 


One  of  the  later  conspicuous  residents  of  Lisbon  was  the  late 
Hezekiah  L.  Reade,  who  died  recently,  aged  seventy-five  years. 
He  died  in  the  house  in  which  he  was  born,  called  the  Owaneco 
Homestead.  This  farm  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Reade's  ancestors  in 
1640  from  Owaneco,  who  was  a  half-brother  of  LTncas,  chief  of  the 
Mohegans.  Mr.  Reade  was  appreciated  beyond  the  narrow  limits 
of  Lisbon,  although  always  living  in  the  town.  He  was  respected  as 
an  itinerant  or  evangelistic  preacher.  He  was  a  successful  manu- 
facturer of  paper ;  he  had  the  credit  of  establishing  the  Jewett  City 
Savings  Bank,  and  was  its  President  for  almost  thirty  years.  He 
was  a  writer  and  publisher  of  several  books,  and  up  to  the  close  of 
his  life  a  newspaper  correspondent,  whose  contributions  always 
found  ready  acceptance  by  the  press. 


Joseph  Carr  Hebbard  was  born  in  Lisbon ;  son  of  Capt. 
Joseph  Hebbard ;  he  removed  to  Kansas  early  in  life  and  became 
an  influential  citizen  of  that  State.  He  was  quite  prominent  in  poli- 
tics, was  very  good  authority  in  all  governmental  statistics,  and  was 
duly  appreciated  by  Kansas  Congressmen,  one  of  whom  he  served 
as  a  private  secretary  for  several  sessions.     He  died  recently. 


Bishops  in  Lisbon. 


Besides  those  of  the  Ipswich  settlers,  Samuel  and  John,  who 
were  brothers  and  closely  allied  with  the  Perkinses  as  early  settlers 
in  Lisbon,  there  was  a  later  emigration  to  Lisbon  of  four  Bishops 
(brothers)  not  connected  on  this  side  of  the  water  with  the  ancestry 
of  the  earlier  ones,  Samuel  and  John,  who  also  became  intermixed 
with  the  Perkinses. 


79 

It  will  be  seen  that  four  brothers  came  from  the  Island  of 
Guernsey  to  Lisbon  and  vicinity — John,  Ebenezer,  Daniel,  and  Na- 
thaniel. The  two  first  settled  in  Lisbon,  one  other  in  New  Haven, 
and  one  near  New  London. 

The  descendants  of  John  Bishop : 

i.     John. 

2.  Samuel,  who  married  in  1770. 

3.  Daniel  Lathrop,  born   1777. 

4.  Samuel  Perkins,  born  1807,  who  has  four  sons  now  living: 
1 5.  Daniel  Lathrop,  born  1847;  5-  Henry  Hunter,  born  1852; 
5.     Edward  Perkins,  born  1859:  5.     Newton  Perkins,  born  1865.] 

The  following-  letter,  from  (5)  Daniel  Lathrop  Bishop,  speaks 
of  his  father's  death  last  year  at  the  age  of  ninety-four  years.  He 
was  the  oldest  banker  then  known  in  the  world,  as  was  claimed  by 
the  Cincinnati  papers : 

Cincinnati,   O.,  May  28,    1903. 
Dr.  Henry  F.  Bishop.  332  E.  88th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  come  across  your  letter  of  April  13,  1902,  relating 
to  genealogy  of  the  Bishop  family.  At  that  time  I  advised  you  I  would 
reply  when  I  had  the  time  to  look  over  my  father's  papers.  For  some  time 
I  was  so  busy  that  I  had  no  convenient  time,  and  afterwards  the  matter 
was  forgotten.  Finding  vour  letter  I  have  taken  up  the  subject.  I  do  not 
find  any  documents  relating  to  the  family  that  are  in  the  nature  of  records. 
I  have  found  in  a  book  of  pamphlets  on  some  inserted  leaves  memoranda 
relating  to  Bishops,  Perkins,  and  other  families  of  our  connection. 

From  this  I  fear  that  we  are  not  as  you  suppose  descended  from  the 
Ipswich   Bishops. 

I  will,  however,  give  you  the  names  of  descendants  of  my  great-great- 
grandfather, John  Bishop,  as  noted  in  the  memoranda,  as  it  may  be  of 
service  to  you  in  case  the  items  have  reached  you  from  any  other  source, 
as  in  your  pamphlet  you  state  there  are  many  Samuel  Bishops   (page  39). 

I  will  bring  the  list  down  to  the  present  day  as  far  as  I  am  able. 

Bishop — Four  brothers  emigrated  from  the  Island  of  Guernsey.  John 
and  Ebenezer  settled  in  Lisbon,  Connecticut :  Daniel  and  Nathaniel  settled, 
one  in  New  Haven,  the  other  near  New  London.  Connecticut. 

Samuel,  son  of  John  Bishop,  SHSn  October  23,  1770,  married  Mercy  John- 
son, daughter  of  Stephen  Johnson  of  Preston,  Connecticut.  He  died  January 
14,  1793.  His  wife  died  October  16,  1833.  (I  do  not  know  where  Samuel  died, 
but  as  my  great-grandmother  Mercy  married  a  second  husband — Hough  of 
Bozrah,  Conn.- — it  was  probably  in  Norwich  neighborhood.  Mercy,  his  wife, 
died  in  Ithaca.  N.  Y.) 


The  children  of  Samuel  and  dvTan*  Bishop  were : 


BORN  DIED  MARRIED 

Daniel Nov.  24,  1772.  .Sept.  24.  1775 

Samuel  . .  .Oct.    24.  1773.  .Sept.  27.  1775 

Mary Oct.    30,  1775 Kinney,    lived    at    South 

Hero,   Vt. 

Daniel  Lathrop. Oct.    20,  1777 •  -March  26,  1848.  {$  ^g^  Ei/Jbeth  Perkins 
Temperance Dec.   18,  1779-  -Aug.  9,  i8t73 


8o 

BORN  DIED  MARRIED 

Deborah .  .Nov.  26,  1781 Boardman.  Lived  at  Grand 

Isle,  Vt. 

Lorice Feb.   iS,  17S3 M.  Downer,  of  Bozrah,  Conn. 

Mercy  March  12.  1785 Williams. 

Sarah May  24,  1787. . .  July  iS,  1832. . .  Abr.    Shepard,    of    Colchester, 

Conn. 
Jedediah June  5,  1789. . .  April  9,  1791 

Daniel  Lathrop  Bishop  and  Lucy  Perkins,  born  August  7,  1780;  died 
February  27,  1817  (daughter  of  Simeon  Perkins  and  Elizabeth  (Young) 
Hadley),  were  married  January  2,  1805,  at  Liverpool,  Nova  Scotia.  (Simeon 
Perkins  formerly  lived  in  Norwich,  Conn.,  and  moved  to  Liverpool  in  1762.) 

The  children  of  Daniel  Lathrop  and  Lucy  were : 

BORN  DIED  MARRIED 

Henry  Young  . .  .  .Oct.      5,  1805.  .Jan.    21,  1S17 

Samuel  Perkins. .  .June  12,  1807..  Feb.     1,  1902.. Oct.  7.  1841,  Elizabeth  Hunt- 
er Hoge. 
Elizabeth  Perkins. Aug.  16,  1809.. Nov.  14,  1869.. March,  1831,   J.  Newton  Per- 
kins (her  cousin). 
Mary  Johnson  ...  .Dec.  19,  181 1..  Dec.   16,  1847.  .James  Thompson. 
Daniel  Edward   .  .May   22,  18 13.  .Aug.  13.  18 14 

((1)  1845,  Eliza  Low  Isaacs. 
Daniel  Edward  (2).  Aug.  21,  iSi5..Dec    29,  1899..  •- (2)  Oct.  24,  1893,  Ada  Eliza 

(     Richards. 

Samuel  Perkins  Bishop  and  Elizabeth  (born  March  27,  1822;  died 
December  24,  1896)  Hunter  Hoge  (daughter  of  Rev.  John  Blair  Hoge  and 
Ann  Kean  Hunter  of  Martinsburg.  Va.)  were  married  at  Cincinnati,  O.. 
October  7,  1841. 

Their  children  were : 

BORN  DIED  MARRIED 

John  Hoge Feb.   13,  1844. .Jan.    2,  1846 


Daniel  Lathrop. .  .March  11,  1847.* Nov.    17.    1SS5,    Caroline    K. 

Stanley. 

Lucy  Perkins Nov.  2S,  1849.  •  Feb.   27,  1855 

Henry  Hunter April  30,  1S52. .+ Sept.  4, 1874.  Florence  Nelson. 

Samuel  Perkins  .  .Jan.      5,  1855.  .June  14,  1855 

Anna  Hoge Aug.     2,  1856.  .Oct.      9,  1879 

Edward  Perkins.  .Aug.  31,  1859..  J Sept.  1,  18S5,  Ella  P.  Hutch- 
inson. 

Newton  Perkins  ..  May  29,  1S65 . .  § Sept.  29,   1892,  May  Darling. 

Daniel  Lathrop  Bishop  and  Caroline  K.  Stanley,  born  October  20,  i860, 
daughter  of  Rev.  Augustin  O.  Stanley  and  Rebecca  Dowdell  Stanley,  were 
married  at   Cincinnati   November   17,    1885. 

Their  children  : 

BORN  DIED 

Caro.  Elizabeth June    2,  18S8 May      12,  1889 

James  Stanley Nov.    6,  1890 

Elizabeth  Hoge Dec.  10,  1893 March  16,  1895 


♦Living  at  Cincinnati,  O.  (Living  at  Decatur,  111. 

tLiving  at  Cleveland,  O.  ^Living  at  Cleveland,  O. 


8i 

Daniel  Lathrop  Bishop  graduated  from  Woodward  High  School  in 
1864.  Was  in  a  bank  for  seven  years  and  thirty-one  years  with  Cincinnati 
Gas  Co.,  resigning  as  Purchasing  Agent  in  August,  1902. 

Henry  Hunter  Bishop  on  September  4,  1874,  was  married  at  Xenia,  O., 
to  Florence  Amelia  Nelson,  born  June  7.   1852;  died  July  10,  1880. 

Their  children  were: 

BORN  DIED  MARRIED 

Carrie  Hunter July      5,  1S75 , Jay  Scott  Clark. 

Roy  Nelson Jan.    20,  1S7S 

Florence  Nelson.  .May    10,  1880.  .July    31,  1S80 

Carrie  Hunter  Bishop  Clark  has  one  child,  Florence  Jenny,  born  at 
Toledo,  O.,  September  4,  1902. 

Henry  H.  Bishop  graduated  from  Woodward  High  School  of  Cincinnati 
in  1868.  Engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  in  Cincinnati  from  1868  to  1875.  In 
wholesale  hardware  at  Decatur,  Ills.,  from  November,  1875,  to  April  1,  1887. 
Since  that  date  to  present  time  in  Cleveland,  O.,  in  wholesale  hardware. 

Roy  Nelson  Bishop  was  educated  at  University  School  of  Cleveland. 
Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.  Leaving  in  Sophomore  year  to  enlist  in 
Troop  A,  First  O.  V.  Cavalry  for  Spanish-American  War.  After  discharge, 
in  November,  1898,  entered  Columbia  University,  New  York,  and  received 
degree  as  Engineer  of  Mines  October,  1902.     Now  pursuing  that  profession. 

Edward  Perkins  Bishop  was  married  September  1,  1885,  at  Lebanon, 
O.,  to  Ella   Parsons  Hutchinson;  born  March   14,   1859. 

Their  children  were: 

BORN  DIED 

Helen  Adelia March  31,  1887 

Edward  Hutchinson Nov.     17,  1891 

William  Hunter ...  .March    2,  1890 March    5,  1890 

Edward  P.,  after  graduation  from  Woodward  High  School,  engaged 
in  business  in  Cincinnati  as  bookkeeper  until  January,  188 1,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Decatur,  111.  Is  now  Treasurer  of  Wholesale  Hardware  Co. 
(Morehouse  &  Wells   Co.). 


Newton  Perkins  Bishop  was  married  at  Cincinnati,  O.,  September  29, 
1892,  to  May  Darling. 

Their  daughter  Dorothy  May  was  born  April  30,  1899,  at  Cleveland,  O. 

Since  graduating  from  Woodward  High  School,  Cincinnati,  Newton 
P.  has  held  clerical  positions  in  Cincinnati,  O.,  Chicago,  111.,  and  Cleveland,  O. 

You  mention  that  Mrs.  Jno.  H.  Converse  gave  you  some  valuable  facts, 
and  I  presume  that  she  advised  you  as  to  he*  two  brothers  and  one  sister  still 
living. 

Was  she  able  to  say  whether  we  are  descended  from  the  Ipswich  family, 
which,  as  I  stated,  seems  to  me  to  be  doubtful?  If  you  should  issue 
another  pamphlet  would  be  glad  to  receive  a  copy,  and  one  of  my  brothers 
expressed  the  same  desire. 

I  am  a  little  in  doubt  as  to  correctness  of  the  dates  of  birth  and  death 
of  my  aunt  Mary  J.  Thompson  (Mrs.  Converse's  mother),  but  no  doubt 
you  have  the  right  ones  from  her. 

Regretting  that  I  have  not  replied  to  you  sooner,  and  that  even  this 
letter  has  been  delayed  by  interruptions  since  I  started  it,  I  am 

Yours  very  truly, 

DANIEL  LATHROP  BISHOP. 

D.  L.  Bishop,  2345  Kemper  Lane,  Cincinnati,  O. 

June   11,   1903. 


82 

The  following  letter  discloses  the  fact  that  success  can  follow  in 
special  lines,  as  has  been  often  proved  in  Lisbon,  where  the  soil 
seemed  not  the  best,  but  rocky  and  unpromising.  Experiments  have 
shown  that  mulberry  trees  for  making  silk,  apple  and  peach  trees 
for  culture  of  fruit,  have  rewarded  such  efforts : 

Round  Hill  Farm,  Norwich,  May  2,  1903. 
To  Mr.  Henry  F.  Bishop,  New  York. 

My  Dear  Sir: — Yours  at  hand.  In  reply,  will  say  I  went  in  for  blooded 
stock  seventeen  years  ago  when  I  had  a  debt  of  $9,000  on  my  farm.  I  paid 
$600  for  two  cows  and  $100  for  a  bull  six  months  old;  also  $150  for  three 
sheep.  This  was  my  foundation  of  a  herd  and  flock.  Since  then  I  have 
bought  and  sold  both  cattle  and  sheep  in  most  every  State.  Have  shipped 
stock  to  Illinois,  to  California,  and  to  Kansas.  I  have  sold  cows  for  $250, 
and  bulls  for  $200;  lots  of  sheep  for  $20  and  $30  each.  Have  shown  stock 
in  all  the  leading  fairs  in  New  England  for  the  past  twelve  years,  and  won 
many  thousand  dollars,  besides  medals,  both  gold,  silver,  and  bronze.  In 
fact  my  stock  has  nearly  paid  the  debt  I  owed.  I  have  on  my  160-acre  farm 
fifty-two  head  of  stock,  mostly  Guernseys,  and  over  100  sheep  and  lambs, 
all  pure  bred,  and  the  sheep  would  readily  bring  $15  each.  I  have  a  buck 
and  two  ewes  that  cost  me  $87.60  last  fall.  I  have  four  breeds  of  registered 
sheep — Dorsets,  Shropshires,  Southdowns  and  Merinos.  I  use  a  machine  to 
shear  them  and  this  week  have  sheared  twenty-seven  in  four  hours,  and 
this  without  as  much  as  a  scratch,  as  would  have  been  made  by  the  shears. 
I  have  cows  now  that  I  could  sell  for  $200;  calves  for  $50.  Have  cows  with 
butter  record  of  16  and  18  lbs.  in  seven  days.  I  have  taken  over  $200  in 
prizes  at  New  London  County  fair  each  year  for  four  years.  I  believe  it 
a  nice  thing  for  any  young  man  to  be  in  debt,  as  he  has  an  object  in  view, 
and  will  get  a  hustle  on  him. 

If  these  statements  are  of  any  good  to  you  or  the  old  town,  you  are 
quite  welcome  to  them. 

Yours  with  respect, 

J.   B.   PALMER. 

The  following  letter  has  been  received  from  Rev.  Edwin  Brad- 
ford Robinson,  who  was  settled  in  Lisbon  as  pastor.  He  has  always 
been  greatly  beloved  by  all  her  people,  and  remembered  throughout 
that  whole  vicinity  for  his  eloquent  talents  in  doing  good,  Christian 
work.  His  personal  magnetism  has  had  much  to  do  with  "inaug- 
urating" a  new  day  "for  Lisbon." 

171  Cabot  St.,  Holyoke,  Mass.,  May  27,   1903. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Bishop:— Your  holy  labor  of  preserving  the  history  of 
Lisbon  wins  my  profound  appreciation.  An  honorable  history  is  a  valuable 
asset.     Lisbon  is  unspeakably  rich  in  her  history. 

Turning  from  the  hoary  past  to  the  living  present  I  must  recall  the 
lines  of  Wordsworth — 

"Those  beauteous  forms. 
Through  a  long  absence,  have  not  been  to  me 
As  is  a  landscape  to  a  blind  man's  eye; 
But  oft  in   lonely  rooms,  and  'mid  the  din 
Of  towns  and  cities,  I  have  owed  to  them 
In  hours  of  weariness,  sensations  sweet 
Felt  in  the  blood,  and   felt  along  the  heart 
With  tranquil  restoration." 


«3 

The  years  can  never  efface  the  imprint  of  "the  little,  nameless,  unre- 
membered  acts  of  kindness  and  of  love"  that  helped  to  make  the  "manse"  the 
"sparrow's  nest"  which   Mrs.   Browne  would  term  it. 

Our  daughter  remembers  with  pride  that  Lisbon  was  her  birthplace. 

A  forward  look.  I  am  confident  that  your  book  will  be  the  means  of 
accomplishing   these   results: 

First — The  completion   of  the   repairs  on   the   church   building. 

Second — A  renewed  interest  in  the  old  town  and  a  feeling  of  respon- 
sibility  for   her   spiritual,    social   and   material   interests. 

Third — A  spirit  of  enterprise  in  the  Lisbon  of  to-day. 

I  am  thankful  that  for  more  than  three  years  I  labored  in  Newent 
Parish  and  had  some  part  in  inaugurating  the  new  day  which  your  book- 
will  usher  in. 

Very   cordially  yours, 

EDWIN  BRADFORD  ROBINSON. 

The  following  letter  came  from  Rev.  Tyler  Eddy  Gale,  who 
has  supplied  the  Newent  pulpit  during  the  last  year : 

4  Downing  Street,  Worcester,  Mass.,  June  5,  1903. 
Mr.   H.   F.   Bishop. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Bishop: — Your  kind  note  of  May  30th  is  at  hand.  My  con- 
nection with  the  Newent  Church  has  come  to  an  end,  but  I  still  feel  very 
vitally  interested  in  its  welfare,  and  I  should  be  very  glad  indeed  to  go  on 
record  as  appreciative  in  the  history  of  Lisbon  you  are  so  self-sacrificingly 
preparing.  The  year  I  have  spent  as  acting  pastor  of  the  Newent  church 
has  been  the  happiest  of  my  life.  The  sturdy  ancestry  behind  the  Lisbon 
people,  and  their  helpful  interest  in  the  future  progress  of  society,  unite  to 
make  them  men  and  women  of  whom  one  is  proud  to  call  by  the  name  of 
friends.  In  this  time,  when  the  social  conditions  of  New  England's  small 
towns  are  so  generally  condemned,  the  presence  in  a  community  of  a  religious 
and  social  institution  of  the  stability  and  force  of  the  Newent  church  is  a 
happy  warrant  for  optimism  as  to  that  community's  future.  Worthily  con- 
servative, nobly  progressive,  it  guarantees  Lisbon's  fidelity  to  the  best  ideals 
of  New  England.  May  its  future  be  bright  in  the  truth  of  the  past  it  reveres, 
the  future  advancement  it  hopes  for,  the  God  it  worships,  and  the  gospel  it 
preaches ! 

If  I  can  be  of  any  service  whatever  to  you  in  your  work,  do  not  hesitate 
to  call  upon  me. 

Very  truly  yours, 

TYLER  E.  GALE. 

Hon.  James  Wilson,  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  Washington, 
D.  C,  gives  the  following  response  to  my  letter  asking  information 
of  him. 

Mr.  Wilson,  as  is  well  known,  was  called  to  serve  in  the  Cabinet 
of  the  late  President  McKinley,  and  he  is  now  serving  in  President 
Roosevelt's  Cabinet,  and  is  highly  honored  by  all  those  who  know 
him  through  the  whole  country. 

Department  of   Agriculture,   Office  of  the   Secretary, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  May  4.  1903. 
Dr.  H.  F.   Bishop.  312-322  East  88th  St..  New  York  City. 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  your  letter  of  May  1st.  I  was  fifteen  years  old  when 
my  father,  in  1851,  moved  from  Scotland  to  Connecticut.  We  lived  on  a 
farm  on  the  Quinabaug  River,  a  little  above  the  tunnel.  You  remember 
the    Shetucket   joins    the    Quinabaug    a    little    below    the    tunnel.      We    went 


to  Lisbon  to  church  regularly  every  Sunday ;  and  there  we  listened  to  dear 
old  Dr.  Nelson,  who  had  preached  a  long  time — if  I  remember  rightly,  well 
on  toward  a  half-century.  My  father  was  a  devout  Christian  man,  and  saw 
to  it  that  we  went  to  church  regularly ;  and  not  only  that,  but  to  mid-week 
prayer  meetings  also,  in  the  houses  of  the  farmers  around.  This  enabled 
me  to  get  an  inside  knowledge  of  the  excellence  of  Connecticut  families  that  I 
have  never  forgotten.  I  went  to  the  district  school  in  winter,  where,  I 
remember,  Daniel  Hyde  was  teacher.  Later  I  went  to  the  high  school  in 
Greenville.  Those  quaint  neighborhoods  in  Connecticut  have  produced  grand 
men,  who  have  done  much  for  the  whole  country.  Their  thorough  knowledge 
of  local  self-government  has  extended  westward,  and  is  now  being  intro- 
duced into  the  islands  of  the  Orient.  I  have  always  had  a  deep-seated 
affection   for  the   State  of  Connecticut. 

Very  truly  yours, 

JAMES   WILSON, 
Secretary. 

A  more  extended  correspondence  with  native  Lisbonites  and 
their  descendants  would  have  furnished  much  more  in  general  in- 
terest to  have  enriched  the  publication  of  this  work  ;  but  limitations 
must  draw  a  line  even  if  injustice  is  clone  to  some  who  get  no  op- 
portunity to  be  heard.  Among  those  not  heard  from,  United  States 
Senator  Perkins  of  California  is  one.  The  New  York  Press  has 
said  of  him  within  a  few  days  past:  "He  was  reared  on  a  farm 
and  had  limited  educational  qualifications.  Many  a  stone  fence  he 
helped  to  build  and  many  a  field  he  mowed  in  the  meridian  sun." 
Of  such  material  is  this  genuine  old  colonial  stock  of  Lisbon  com- 
posed that  they  can  arise  to  useful  positions  as  statesmen  and  coun- 
sellors, as  well  as  companions  and  advisers  to  those  elected  to 
govern  this  great  Republic. 


taie  of  C® 


WHO  TRANSPLANTED  SUSTAINS' 


'Lives  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead 
That  never  to  himself  has  said— 
This  is  my  own,  my  native  land." 


University  of 
Connecticut 

Libraries 


liii! 


iiiil 


